Predicter
by SeaIng
Summary: *SEQUEL to Trigger* Agency is back and they have a new proposal: create a drug that will give regular humans the powers of a caliber. Desperate to stop them, Tori and Jade take a visit to the facility and run into more trouble than they expected. And to top it all off, someone who they thought was dead comes back.
1. Getting Along

**TA-DAAA! Here it is...the sequel to _Trigger_!**

**This takes place one month after the end of the first story. If you haven't read it yet, go to my profile and the story is called _Trigger_. I highly recommend you read it before reading this because chances are you won't really understand what's going on (nor will you be as excited about the title, I presume ;).**

**Like I said once, this is inspired by themes from: _Jurassic Park_, _X-Men 3: The Last Stand_, and _Push _(again). This story will (hopefully) be a few chapters longer than _Trigger_, and possibly even better. ENJOY!**

**Rated T for action violence (some involving animals), drug use, and experimentation scenes.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Victorious, it would not be ending.**

* * *

CHAPTER 1  
Tori's POV

"Can you go any slower?"

"I am _trying_!" I yelled back exasperatedly, my hands starting to shake violently. Jade was floating a foot off the ground in an awkward sitting position, her legs sticking straight out in front of her. My strength was running out fast; it was one thing using my Kinecter powers to bring the TV remote over when I was too lazy to get it, but holding up an entire body and walking six blocks with them was different. "It doesn't help you're like, two hundred pounds!"

"Am not!" Jade replied indignantly. "You just don't want to admit you're tired even though I told you to practice before we came out and did this!"

My face grew red and hot. "I will drop you."

"Go ahead," she taunted, testing my patience.

As much as I wanted to, I couldn't. I wasn't that kind of person. So I huffed a sigh at Jade's smirk and continued walking forward at a snail's pace, concentrating on keeping her elevated.

We'd just gone to spy on a black market business that was accused of guns and other weaponry to the gangs of Orlando. After splitting up, I went onto the roof to look through the windows of the warehouse while Jade hid out in the garage full of getaway vehicles.

Unfortunately, I slipped and the workers noticed me. They made their way to the garage and got into the trucks before I could warn Jade, and her legs ended up getting run over, which broke them both in several different places. Now I had to half-carry, half-use-my-powers to bring her back to Hawthorn Lake so she could heal properly.

"Where's Robbie when you need him?" Jade sulked.

"Probably with Trina," I grunted.

"Hmm… I forget they love hanging out with each other. But Trina's friend-zoning Robbie, right?"

"I guess you could say that. She just likes him because he can take her to Hawaii whenever she wants without having to sit on a plane with strangers for hours and it's free," I replied, exhaling loudly when I saw the outside staircase of Hawthorn Lake. "Can I put you down now?"

"Yeah, inside the apartment!"

"I'm not carrying you up the stairs!"

Jade turned her head to look at me, her blue eyes glowing with such a serious intensity I almost lost concentration and dropped her. Squeaking like a frightened mouse, I said no more and quickly followed her command.

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

Almost a full ten minutes later, we were at the door to Beck and Jade's apartment. She handed me the key and I unlocked the door, stumbling inside and dropping Jade on the floor.

"Ow! Tori!" she yelled at me.

"Sorry," I mumbled, flopping down on the couch as she vigorously started massaging her kneecaps. Most of her legs had healed, leaving holes and bloodstains on her jeans from where the bone punctured and fluid leaked out. I heard footsteps and Beck came out of the bedroom, running a hand through his hair, his eyes falling upon his girlfriend.

"Jade, what happened?" he hurried over, kneeling down and putting a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm fine. Just give me a few—OWW!" she screamed, accompanied by a loud pop as her thigh twisted into its hip socket. "Oh god…geez…"

"What did they do to you?" Beck's eyes were wide with concern. "Tori! What did they do? What happened?" He got up and grabbed my shoulders, pulling me into a sitting position.

"A truck ran them over."

"A _what_ did _what_?" Beck went into an unnecessary, full-out panic mode.

"Can you get me a new pair of pants, kid?" Jade asked in a tight voice, still refusing to use my actual name. "They're in the bedroom closet on the second rack. Any one will do." I nodded. "And excuse me, Beck, but you need to calm down your attitude. We both got out, so we're fine, okay?"

"Fine? How do you call that fine?" he exploded, pointing at her legs. I disappeared out of the room as the couple started arguing again. Going into the small closet, I located some sweatpants and unhooked them from the hanger, bringing them back out to the living room.

"Stand up, then. Stand up and prove that you're perfectly fine."

"I'm not going to. When do you become so paranoid about this kind of thing, anyway? This is my job, and we both know the consequences that come with it!" Jade was red in the face, still sprawled out on the ground.

"And you _know_ how much I hate it when you get hurt on the job!"

"At least I have a job, because one of us needs to pay for your therapy bills! "

There was a silence so awkward you could taste it. I set the clothes next to Jade, walking back towards the door, my hand fumbling for the handle.

"We talked about this before," Beck said, his face like a tomato but trying to remain calm. "We have money, Jade. I don't know why you keep insisting on going out and risking your life and Tori's."

"Because it's the right thing to do. I'm not going to sit around like you do all day. I'm trying to make a difference; I'm trying to make Orlando a safer place."

"I have a reason for that too, okay? I lived under Archelaus's influence for six_ years_! I need to take a break from listening to anyone for a while, you know."

"It's already been a whole month. The only thing you were ever asked to do track down, hurt, and kill innocent people. And you actually _obeyed _him! If anything, you should be trying to make up from your actions, not taking a 'break.'" Jade was spitting as she shouted.

"WE ALREADY TALKED ABOUT THIS!"

Covering my ears, I wrenched the door open and leaped outside, slamming it behind me. I hated it when they argued, which was almost every day after Jade and I returned from either a successful or unsuccessful mission.

Beck had used the excuse of needing a break from doing anything since he had been with Archelaus for six years, and he also took therapy lessons for his mental and emotional health a few times a week, which by all means was quite costly. Not only that, but they were turning him into an extremely-protective, sometimes-annoying and overly-attached boyfriend, in his awkward attempt to recover from the past of ruining other peoples' lives.

Jade was easily upset by his actions and concerns, and it didn't help they lived in the same place and shared the same bed. I knew she was happy to have him back, but nowadays he had become pain and was always getting in our business. The only reason why he just didn't come with us himself was because Jade threatened to break-up with him if he did.

I went into the next-door apartment, which was Trina's and mine. It was identical to Beck and Jade's, but a little cleaner and more organized if I do say so myself. I still was not attending a school, which my parents back in California were pushing for me to do, but I lied to them, because it was already the end of my senior year anyway and I didn't plan on going to college anymore.

Entering the bedroom, I saw a note on my bed. Instead of having one queen or king-size mattress like the other rooms did, Trina exchanged it at the store and got two twin-size mattresses and had Robbie build a frame for each one. We still shared the same room, but it was better sleeping separate.

_Tori,_

_ I'm out with Robbie. We're in London visiting all of the old pubs and castles. If you need me, you can call, but otherwise don't unless there is an emergency. On second thought, just go see Beck or Jade. I'm kind of busy._

_Still love you though!_

_-Trina_

I shook my head, smiling at the message. Suddenly, there was a loud thump on the far, and I could hear Jade cursing loudly through the thin insulation. Sighing, I rubbed my temples, wishing that they could just get along for once. Jade was going to snap at some point from Beck's intruding behavior, and I feared that the result would be in one of them leaving the rest of us forever.

Walking back out to the kitchen, I decided to make myself a sandwich, mostly because I was bored, and had no one to talk to. Well, there was André, but he was probably busy in his lab…again. Usually I hung out with Jade, but right now she was experiencing some issues with her boyfriend.

Retrieving the ingredients from the fridge, I laid them out on the counter then went to find a knife and plate when there was a heavy knock on the door.

"Who is it?" I called.

"André."

"Coming."

I opened the door to find the twenty-year-old standing there, wringing his hands together agitatedly. "Hello!" I greeted, gesturing him to come inside, but he refused, standing there with his feet planted firmly to the ground. "What's up?"

"You need to come down to the lab immediately."

"Why?"

"Just come, please. It's very important. And get Beck and Jade, too."

"Why can't you do it?" I asked softly, taking a step forward and locking the door behind me.

"Um, you're better at being persuasive than I am," he admitted. "And you know, you're the only one around here who actually gets along with Jade. Be quick about it though. See you down at the lab."

I was about to ask him about Robbie and Trina, but he was already jogging off. Shrugging my shoulders and feeling very small, I knocked several times on the bickering couples' door. Beck opened it immediately, his hair practically standing on end and his eyes were full of blinding anger.

"What do you want, Tori?"

"André needs us down in his lab. Both you and Jade."

The door opened wider, revealing Jade still on the floor, struggling to pull up her black combat boots and tie them. Her sweatpants were already on, bunched up at her knees, revealing the lines of blood on her skin where the bone had broken through but now healed over. She brushed them off and wiped her hand on the carpet.

"Do you need help?" I asked as Beck pinched the bridge of his nose.

"No."

Jade finished within the next few seconds and, glaring at both of us, stood up with the help of the couch arm, a look of pure defiance on her face.

"See? I can walk," she spat in her boyfriend's face.

"I asked you that question like, ten minutes ago."

"Guys…" I said, not wanting them to start fighting again.

"Whatever." Jade's voice was sharp as a knife. She led the way, and I hopped right behind her, separating her from Beck, hoping that they wouldn't say anything offensive to each other. We trekked the long distance over to the alley that had the door to André's lab, which I took the burden of finding and opening.

André was waiting on the other side, pulling us into the main room. Robbie and Trina were already there, looking bored and standing next to each other awkwardly. Robbie was holding Trina's huge black purse, and she was holding his ventriloquist dummy Rex with an expression of disdain on her face.

"What's going on?" I said.

"Look. I was just watching the caliber news—"

"Hold on, we have our own news channel?" Beck interrupted. I noticed that Jade had drifted away from him and was now standing closest to me, her arms crossed tightly over her chest.

"Technically yes, but it is inaccessible to humans as they need a passcode to view it. Agency used it a long time ago to give us updates on the big events going on, and after Archelaus came, it stopped. But now they've brought it back.

"I was watching it earlier, and Sikowitz came up with a very important announcement." André grabbed a remote control and turned on the largest monitor. We all glanced up at it.

Clicking the back-track button, we watched as the current head, president, leader—whatever you want to call him—of Agency, Erwin Sikowitz, walked back up to the stage and stood in front of the wooden podium. Then André paused it, right as he was leaned towards the microphone.

"Sikowitz just made an announcement today. I think he's going to start a war between calibers and humans."

* * *

**Yep. I'm jumping right into things this time around, since you (should) already know the basis of the story and the AU I created. Maybe the characters' interactions (especially Beck and Jade) seem kind of harsh and unrealistic, but try and look at it from the story's point-of-view. And if it's still OCC, then let me know and I'll fix it up.**

**BIG NOTE: Tori is seventeen years old. No, she did not have a birthday since the previous story. That was the mistake I had to go back in fix in _Trigger_. She is also seventeen y.o. in that one, not sixteen, which is what I first wrote. I changed it because it would mean less complications with school, and fit better with future plans I have for her character. ;)**

**Tell me what you think of it so far! :D**


	2. Sikowitz's Plan

**I promised myself that I wasn't going to update until my grades got better...but yeah. It was too tempting. Especially since I've been having a good week so far. And I got an entire five reviews. So...I'm glad you all seem very excited to read this chapter so here it is! Don't know when the next one will come, since my school's first quarter is ending and I am currently failing English class...but never fear! I won't stop writing this story until the day I die!**

**A very special thanks to: Azkadellio, Guest, Jeremy Shane, spezria26 and BelletheWickedWitch! :)**

* * *

CHAPTER 2  
Jade's POV

"What?" we all said in unison, unsure if we had heard his words correctly.

"Just watch and listen; it's really, _really _shocking." André pressed play and turned up the volume.

At first, you could only hear the static as the microphone was tested, and Sikowitz's three, most-trusted partners—Lane Alexander, Charles Eikner and Helen Dubois—who I had actually met in person and they saved my life—walked up and stood on the sides of the podium.

Looking straight up at the camera, Sikowitz began, "Hello, calibers. It has been a while since most of you have seen me. I would like to inform everyone that first of all, Agency is in power again and running smoothly ever since the Archelaus and Rebellion incident has happened and now been properly resolved.

"As most of you know, medical support is being offered to victims of Archelaus, and one simply needs to put in a request to start receiving the monthly checks. If more money is required, you can call Agency's number, 1-751-4325 and speak with an operator to get your balance figured out.

"Now is a new time. During the past month, my council and I have come up with a plan to keep another case of Archelaus from happening ever again." Clearing his throat, Sikowitz went straight into his speech.

"We have all seen in movies, TV shows and books where governments try and create drugs that will help enhance superpowers, in this instance our caliber abilities. However, in almost every single situation that that occurs, the test subjects often escape or the experiments get out of control, and then panic ensues shortly afterwards and the human race becomes threatened because of it.

"So I have come up with a completely new way of approaching the problem. Because of Archelaus, the humans were at risk of being overtaken and possibly wiped out. In order to prevent such a tragedy from happening ever again, instead of creating a drug that will _boost_ our skills, I have come in contact with an organization that will be developing a drug to give _humans _our caliber powers."

"WHAT?" I couldn't hold back my retort. Tori's jaw hung open in shock. I snuck a glance over at Beck, his eyebrows were scrunched and his expression unreadable; not from our earlier argument but from the words that Sikowitz had just said.

"How is he going to manage that?" Trina asked in shock, dropping Rex to the floor.

"He's just asking for trouble now," Tori put in, her hands closed into fists, her arms shaking.

"I didn't kill Archelaus to give him the power to create drugs," I snarled.

"Hold on, let's just keep listening," Robbie suggested, kneeling down to pick up his beloved puppet from the floor and throwing Trina her bag in exchange, "We can't make judgments just yet. At least not logical ones."

"The goal of this idea is to make everyone equal. Instead of trying to take away our powers, we will bring the humans up to our status. That way, there will be no risk of wiping out a separate race of beings, perhaps a specific group may want to take over, but otherwise, no one has an advantage over the other.

"The 'normal human' governments, if you will, all made a unanimous decision and have given me full support of this plan. I might say so myself that they are all incredibly eager to see the results once everything has been cleared in the laboratory, and the drug will be given to them to then distribute to their people. For now it will be kept a secret from them in order to lessen any objections, but I have been allowed to break the news to my fellow calibers due to the fact that I was the one to come up with the concept in the first place."

Of course _they _would be on board with Sikowitz. They were humans, for God's sake, and every caliber knew that the human race was just as evil as we were, if not even more. Archelaus Patterstone, however, was the worst of the worse, but there were a lot of humans who committed acts similar to his.

Currently, calibers had more abilities than humans, but they were naturally smarter than us in general, save for the IQers, and usually were better when it came to making life decisions or common sense. However, this was only because the warped genes that give us our powers had taken a few semi-important brain cells away in exchange. But humans had learned to adapt without the special advantages we had. Almost everything that calibers take for granted is something that a human has to work hard to earn.

And because of that, they loathed us heavily, becoming jealous and doing everything they could to bring down our race. Sure, we hadn't had any huge, history-book battles, but it was just the little acts and protests small groups of humans put together that affected us the most.

Imagine what would happen if their obsessed brains got ahold of our unique skills. It would take them months to master their abilities with their advanced intelligence, versus the usual few years it took most calibers. No, it would not be a perfect, equal, society—in fact, it would be quite the opposite. You'd have people killing each other left and right in an attempt to become the highest leader, since I assume there would only need to be one government at that point. Whatever Sikowitz had assured wasn't going to happen, you can almost always guarantee that anything you do has a potential of things going wrong.

Sikowitz continued, "I understand that many of you will not agree with the strategy just yet, neither do I expect you to be so. Once the drug has been fully created and is being distributed, I'm sure you will then see the benefits it will be having for the world. We will no longer need to hide and be careful with whom we show our powers in front of, but all the governments will be able to work together, and we can expand into excelling in other subjects, such as technology and solving world issues, and not having to pay attention to the very-consuming matter of military."

"If you would like to contribute to this project, please call 1-751-4325, and we can give you answers to any of your questions as well. We are in need of volunteers from which we will extract genes and sample your DNA in order to replicate them in the drug.

"Thank you for listening, and I hope you come to understand why this is happening. Any more news we receive from the appointed facility will be released as soon as all facts are made clear. My name is Erwin Sikowitz, head of Agency, and I will always be available for any issues and concerns you may have."

"Agency is growing in its settlements located all over the world, so please call the number if you want to know the nearest one to you, and they can easily connect you to me, provided I am not busy at the moment. Once again, the number is 1-751-4325. Thank you."

The screen went blank.

None of this was right; or fair. We might often be discriminated for being different and even feared by the other race, but our powers made us special, if we at least used them in a positive way. And now Sikowitz was asking for calibers to volunteer and have their DNA and genes scanned so they could be replicated into the drug. We were practically being violated, even though he technically wasn't forcing anyone to submit.

Glancing over at everyone else, they seemed to have mixed reactions. Robbie was wiping his glasses with his sleeve, like he couldn't believe what he had just seen and heard. Becks was rubbing his index finger and thumb together, a little reaction he did every time something was conflicting him. That wasn't a good sign at this moment. Trina had thrown the strap of her purse over her shoulder, rifling through the bag and pulling out some tropical fruit-scented lotion. Tori had her jaw hanging open, and I reached over and grabbed her chin, snapping it shut. She looked at me, frowning so seriously I laughed.

"He's going to start a war with that decision," André said for the second time.

"Heck yeah he is," my more angry mood returning.

"Maybe he's doing this for a reason," Beck interrupted.

"And that would be what?" I turned to him, trying to calm down. Geez, everything he did nowadays made me so upset, even if he was just asking how my day was. I know it's been six years since I last saw him, and I should be happy that he's even still alive, but I was getting so tired of how he questioned everything I did and tried to assist me, even if it was the walk to close the bedroom window. I've lived by myself for six years. Doesn't that show that I can take care of myself without his help?

"Like he just said on the screen, if you were paying attention," he said, putting an extra emphasis on the last part.

"Yes, I was." I took a step towards him menacingly, my arms coming down to my sides, trying to look non-threatening.

"Well, he said that if everyone becomes a caliber, then we won't need to face any problems of protecting humans from our own kind. Everyone will be equal, and we can focus on the more pressing matters."

"That's stupid." I felt like I was talking more to Beck than about Sikowitz.

"To you, maybe. Try looking at the good side of this decision that he made."

"What good side?"

"Beck, Jade, stop." André moved to stand between us, and that was when I realized how close we had come to each other. "When I said Sikowitz was trying to start a war, I didn't mean between the two of you." Huffing, I backed away from both men and bumping into Tori. She sighed sadly, her expression a cross between misery and anger.

"Sorry, kid," I whispered more than one meaning behind those two words. I knew she hated it when Beck and I argued, whether it was about who left the fridge open or if the rent was paid for the month. But I did too, and it didn't know how to fix things.

"Sikowitz thinks, that if instead of making calibers stronger or taking away our powers completely, he'll try and reproduce them and give to humans so they can become like us," Robbie summed up quickly. "I don't think I've ever heard of an approach like that."

"Of course not. It won't work, anyway," I growled.

"Jade." André shot me a warning glance, quieting me and letting the others have their say.

"Where will these 'experiments' be taking place?" It was Trina's turn to join in on the conversation.

"I'm not quite sure. Maybe I could call and get some information."

"All right, you do that." I waved André away where he stood. "I'm going back to Hawthorn. I need to take a nap." Beck was right on my heels as I left them all standing in the giant lab room and I continued to ignore him.

"I'm sorry, Jade," he called out suddenly.

Spinning around, I looked straight into his brown eyes. His hands were held out in front of him, almost like he wanted me take them. Slapping them away, I replied forcefully, "You are forgiven, but I'm not touching your hands."

"You just did."

He shut up immediately when I gave him my famous Jade-stare. After that he hopped back into place behind me like a sad puppy.

Once we walked up the stairs to our apartment, I went into the bedroom and threw myself onto the squeaky mattress face-first. Beck hovered by the doorway, unsure if he should come in or not. Finally he decided to take the risk and sat down on the opposite side of the bed.

"Are you going to stop being a jerk? Or at least try?" I asked, my words muffled by the pillow.

"I won't be if you're not."

"I never am."

He gave a soft laugh. "Yes you are."

"Well, not as much as you, anyway."

Beck exhaled loudly and I sat up, leaning back against the wooden headboard. "I love you no matter what would ever happen, you know that, right?" He picked up my hand gently, and put his other one on top, trapping mine in between. His were very warm and I almost felt uncomfortable.

"Yes."

"I just don't want something to happen to you…again. It was already bad enough that I had to trigger both of us and I almost killed you because of it. I love you and I don't want to lose you."

_Not the first time I heard _that. I leaned over and wrapped my arms around his waist, hugging him tightly. "I know you love me, and I love you too. But there's no need to get upset if a truck unknowingly runs over my legs. Tori managed to get us out of there before we were caught, so it's no big deal, okay?"

"Still. I just don't like you getting hurt in general."

"I don't either but it's a part of life."

Stretching out and putting my head down on a memory foam cushion, my boyfriend did the same, facing me. It may have only been mid-afternoon, but I was tired and ready to hit the hay. Usually I slept until the next morning, no matter what time I fell asleep after failing a mission. Beck was stroking the dyed hairs on my head. I had gotten a few new green ones amongst the darker shade of brown.

"Okay. You can go to sleep." He got up, closing the blinds to the only window in the room. "I'll make some dinner reservations at your favorite diner, if that's okay with you."

"If you can wake me up," I mumbled sleepily, a huge wash of weariness overcoming me.

"See you soon, babe."

"Love you too."

* * *

**I know that 90% of the chapter was talking, but I needed to fully explain Sikowitz's plan, especially since (I don't think) it's that usual, stereotypical drug creation of boosting powers and stuff. Hopefully it's something that you haven't heard of before, maybe?**

**On that note, I hope you enjoyed it, and there will be more (action) to come soon.**

**Oh oh! And I have something important to ask my wonderful readers, especially the reviewers: Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can like, 'reward' you guys for your amazing feedback? Because I know it probably takes up your precious time to actually type something out to me, and I just want to give you something back. Like maybe some personal PM with what to expect happening in the story? Hmm?**

**Anyway, thanks for reading! Join me next time!**


	3. First Contact

**I'm BAAACCCKKK! And with a new chapter, if you haven't already noticed. :) I had a blackout at school today so there was no Internet to upload there. -_- But now I'm at home so it's all good. Ohhh and the SF Giants won...so they're going to the next...championship thing...(sorry I don't really follow baseball but I'm pretty excited they won :D).**

**Because I've found writing no action kind of boring, I put a teeny bit in this one so hopefully you are just as satisfied as I am. Also, I'm sure some of you will be very intrigued by this chapter...**

**Special thank you to: BelletheWickedWitch, Jeremy Shane and especially spezria26 (we must continue our amazing conversations :D). I LOVE YOU ALL.**

* * *

CHAPTER 3  
Jade's POV

After I took a four-hour nap, Beck somehow managed to get me up and we went (by ourselves) to my favorite restaurant that served pancakes twenty-four hours. I ate six entire stacks while Beck actually ordered a dinner plate. The meal was civil at least to say, but mostly because my mouth was full of buttery goodness and I didn't want to be rude.

When we finished, as we were heading back to our apartment, I saw the lights on in Tori's and Trina's. Sure enough, the younger sister caught sight of me as I walked past, and asked what our plans for the next job would be tomorrow. I told her that she could have the day off, which most normal people would get extremely excited over, but not her. Sulking, she retreated into the shared dwelling.

Beck fell asleep as soon as his head hit the mattress, as did I even though I had a lengthy rest earlier. But I ended waking up around two o'clock in the morning, because I wasn't sleepy anymore.

And that's when I heard it.

There was a soft clatter coming from the kitchen.

Looking over my shoulder, Beck was zoned out and snoring like a baby. The only other person who had access to our apartment was Tori…and so help me if she was invading our privacy at this hour of the day I would figure out some dirty way to get her back.

Throwing my legs over the side of the bed, I sat up, rubbing my eyes and hoping that either the noise would go away or I had just imagined it. But then it came again so I leaped off, running to the doorway and peeking around the corner cautiously.

Next to the kitchen table was a small figure, their form darkened by the lack of light. Their hands were going through the few objects spread out on the surface from my overturned purse.

"Hey!" I shouted, revealing myself.

In the next instant, the person had bolted to the ajar door, racing outside into the dusky glowing sky. Ignoring that I was hardly wearing anything, I ran after them, my feet flying over the ground.

I caught the whip of dark hair around the corner of the hall, thudding loudly enough after them to wake up the whole line of apartments. But once I reached the flight of stairs and practically jumped down them, I had no idea of which way they could've gone. Looking around wildly, not a single living person was in sight. They must've either stopped on a different floor, took another turn, or were truly fast to elude me.

Trudging back to the apartment, Beck was asleep like nothing had happened as I turned on the lights in the kitchen and living room. Going through the strewn objects on the table, the first thing that I noticed was that my wallet was gone.

Seventy dollars, two credit cards, and my fake Ruby East ID and driver's license.

Wow. Well, that wasn't too bad at least.

I rubbed the side of my head, my fingers tangling in my frizzled hair. I committed so much time helping others out and capturing their bad guys, but yet I couldn't even stop one that was directed towards me.

_All right, well I won't tell Beck. There's no need for him to know. It's not a big deal anyways. I'll go to André in the morning and see if he can find some fingerprints on the doorknob_.

Piling the remaining items into my bag and tossing it onto the couch, I went back into the bedroom to sleep…again.

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

"Good morning, Jade!"

"Huh?" I cracked open my eyes groggily. Beck was standing above me, a hugely unusual smile on his face.

"Good morning!" he repeated.

"What time is it?" I said.

"Ten o'clock. I would've waken you up earlier, but you looked kind of tired." Beck pat my head gently. "But come on, get up now! Today is a new day and I promise to not start any arguments as long as I can help it!"

"Mhmm."

"Seriously." Beck bounded towards the entryway, reminding me of how a little five-year-old boy might act when he was in a good mood. "Did you forget to lock the front door last night? Because when I woke up it wasn't closed all the way."

"Um, yeah, sorry. I went out get some air, and I guess I just didn't remember to do it. Sorry." I mumbled out a made-up story, and then remembered what I was supposed to be doing today. "I need to go and see André later, though. There's something I need to talk to him about." Beck's eyebrow raised, and I prepared a snappy comeback, but he remained silent.

"Oh. It doesn't involve anything illegal, right?"

"'Course not." I clambered out of the bed, heading into the bathroom and getting ready to start my new day.

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

After eating some cereal with Beck and telling Tori that I would be occupied for the rest of the morning, I made my way down to André's lab. The dark-skinned IQer answered the door, allowing me in and asking what was wrong.

"Well, first, you can't tell Beck about it; because he'll freak like a maniac and you know, get all paranoid about it," I sighed as André sat down at a small table with a bowl of oatmeal on it. He looked completely unabashed and calm.

"Someone broke into my apartment last night."

"Go on."

"What?" André held a hand in front of his mouth so that the food didn't splatter forward. "How did that happen?" I rubbed my temples, knowing that this was probably a bad idea after all, especially to break it to him over breakfast.

"Yeah. There was a noise in the kitchen late at night—well, actually it was about two in the morning—so I got up to see what it was, since Beck was still sleeping next to me. I saw a person standing there, and they had the contents of my purse spilled out on the table. They snatched my wallet and ran away when I called to them.

"I tried to chase after them, but they got away before I could catch up. And—hey. Stop giving me that look." André was wearing mask of surprise at how I had failed to capture a criminal running on foot. "I didn't warm-up or anything, okay? I'd assume you'd be even slower if you were in my position," I snapped and he started laughing.

"Geez, sorry. What do you want me to do about it? You didn't have a tracker in your purse, did you?"

"No, but I want you to check the doorknob and see if you can find any fingerprints."

Releasing a very loud burp, André added, "Were they wearing gloves?"

"I don't think so."

"Sure. Give me five minutes and I'll be over."

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

Beck had left for his physical therapy, so he wouldn't be back for a few hours. André snuck over with his CSI-like case full of fancy gadgets. Sitting down in the doorway and unloading his equipment: a small device with a fan-like protrusion and antennae on top, something that looked like an electric razor, and a pack of Q-tips and swabs.

"Where'd you get all this?" I asked, leaning against the wall and giving a glare to anyone who walked by, curious to get a look at what we were doing.

"I made it. Obviously not the Q-tips, but everything else."

"Oh-kay."

"Let me first see if there are any fingerprints on this." André wiped the sides of the knob gently, his face inches away. He took a swab and ran it over the smooth metal. Satisfied, he nodded his hand and retrieved the other materials. "Okay. You've got a few different ones, so let me identify each of them."

Placing the razor-object against it, there was a soft buzzing noise and he slid it along its golden surface, seeming to pick up any trace of a mark.

"I hope they're not Beck's, because he had to leave for his therapy this morning, but since you said there are a few, maybe at least one of them could be the offender's…"

Finished with the knob, André connected the tip of the razor to the bottom of the handheld gear with the screen and it turned on, revealing a picture of Earth's globe. The information was loaded on and it started to shake in his hands.

"Okay. Since this isn't hooked up to my main files, we won't be able to see who the perpetrator actually is, but instead we will see their exact location." André held it up so the antennae and fan were facing the sky. "And here we go."

It was a tense few seconds, but the first print was identified.

"Number one is…Beck, if he's at the therapy place," André said, forcing himself not to laugh. I rolled my eyes. That doofus. Oh well, I didn't actually tell him _not _to touch the doorknob, so it was partly my fault.

"We have one more." André looked at the screen hard. "Andd…HA! Wow." He chuckled, bringing his hand down and covering his face to hide the mile-wide smile it now held.

"What?" Impatient, I snatched it from him. On the display was a map of our city, and it was zoned in on Hawthorn Apartments. Furious when I realized the little flag was pointing at my position, I fought the urge to toss it to the ground and handed it as politely as possible to André.

"You probably touched it while you were running out of the apartment and either covered them up with yours, or they never touched it in the first place," he explained, taking the object gently and beginning to pack everything away. "Well, my job is done then. Thank you for choosing André Harris as your neighbor-friendly thief-finder. We hope to receive some of your business again." André grinned and started to walk away.

Angrily, I grabbed handfuls of my hair, kicking the door as hard as I could. The weak wood crumbled under the force of my boot, giving it a big dent. _GREAT. Now I gotta cancel my credit cards and get someone to fix the stupid door_.

Reaching down and attempting to pull back the splintered timber, the only feat I managed was cutting up my fingers and getting them full of wood. I ditched the idea after that, instead taking the metal screen and locking it in place in front of the actual door.

Not bothering to ask Trina (or Tori) to watch my apartment, I stomped off to talk to Hawthorn staff management and also make a trip to the bank.

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

Unidentified POV

In the darkness and shade of the back alley, I leafed through the bills in the biggest pocket of the wallet I had recently stolen. My breath was coming out in unsteady bursts, my fingers shaking as I counted a total seventy dollars and another four in change.

Sliding down the cold brick wall, I sat with my legs folded beneath me, still trying to catch my breath. That was the fastest I've ever run in the past few months, and my body was not use to such exertion. Luckily, I saw the future and knew exactly which way my chaser was going to go, so I avoided that path and managed to escape quickly.

Turning the wallet over, I started to go through the cards inside. There were the usual gift ones to Jet Brew and Sky Store, which sounded very familiar but I couldn't put a finger on it. Then I found the driver's license and ID.

_Florida State  
__Driver's License_

_Name: Ruby East  
__Address: Eighteenth Street, Hawthorn Lake Apartments, Apartment 10154, Orlando, Florida  
__DOB: 7/26/89, Height: 5'7", Weight: 130lbs  
__Sex: Female, Hair-Brown, Eyes-Blue_

None of this information was ringing a bell. Still somewhat determine, I glanced down at the picture of the girl, struggling to identify her features in the dimness. Once my eyes adjusted, I could hear my heartbeat thumping as I recognized it.

She looked exactly like Jade West, one of my best friends, with her deep blue eyes that saw into your soul and dark brown hair with rebellious dyed streaks. They even had the same birthday and height. Hee, hee…but this _Ruby East _was a lot heavier than Jade.

My emotions had become so bubbly and happy—something that hadn't happened in years—that in the moment, I forgot about my chips and there was a sharp shock on the back of my neck. I dropped the wallet and cards, covering my mouth to block my scream as my body involuntarily began to convulse with the electricity.

Tears filled my eyes and I squeezed them shut, feeling the salty liquid drip down my cheeks. Once the sensations of pain and terror filled my mind again, overtaking the joyfulness, the buzzing in my neck stopped.

Wiping my face on my dirty sleeves, I bent back down to pick up the fallen wallet, reminding myself to stop being so happy. This wasn't a big deal. It wasn't worth the pain; at least, not yet. There were other things that were going to happen that would be much worse if I couldn't figure out a way to prevent them.

I was still confused why someone named Ruby East, would look exactly like Jade West. Unless…a jade and ruby were both types of stone, right? And east and west were both directions. Clever girl. Of course this had to be my one and only Jadey, as I liked to call her.

Reminding myself that I needed to stop being so delighted in order to save myself from another electric spaz, I took a deep breath to calm my nerves. I had gone to the right apartment after all. That was a good sign. Now all I needed to do was actually find the people I was looking for, and give them the warning before everything went crazy. It had been days since I'd seen any sort of technology since I just arrived in the city, and I wondered if Sikowitz had already announced that 'plan' of his…

Stuffing everything into my pockets, I grabbed the ends of my thin hoodie, wrapping them around my tiny frame and tucking my head into my shoulder, resuming a half-sitting, half-lying down positions hobos would often take up. It would only be a few hours until the majority of people were awake, so I'd have to wait until then to make my next move.

* * *

**Yes? You likey? I know you do. You want to review? I'll reply and answer your questions about the story so far...or we can just talk. ;)**


	4. Not So Lost

**Oh geez. I told myself I would focus on homework and not write...but yeah. That didn't really happen. But I'm sure you guys don't mind, right? ;) Um, I guess this chapter is okay. We learn some new things, so yay! **

**Thank you, thank you, thank you to: YeahI'mSmilingButInsideI'mDyin, Jeremy Shane, BelletheWickedWitch and spezria26. :)**

**And just a heads up: this story is going to be darker than "Trigger," especially as we get further in and learn about some people's pasts. This chapter isn't too bad, but the upcoming chappies it might get pretty scary/disturbing. I'll give you guys warning though, so hopefully it won't be a problem.**

* * *

CHAPTER 4  
Tori's POV

Whistling loudly, I left my apartment and went over to Beck and Jade's. Trina had gone out for an actual job interview and Robbie tagged along. Late last night, I had come up with a brilliant idea that we could use to talk to Sikowitz and get him to change his mind about creating this drug.

I stood in front of their door, looking down and realizing that something was wrong. The lower half of the wooden piece was dented in, the splinters of wood sticking out menacingly. Worriedly, I pushed against the blocking metal screen, and found that it was locked into place.

Scrunching my eyebrows in confusion, I wondered if anyone had tried to break in. Putting my hand out, I focused on the unusually shiny doorknob and unlocked it from the inside using my powers. Then I harmlessly pulled it out of the way and entered.

The only light was coming from the kitchen window and the bedroom. Making a quick round in the small apartment, there was no one else here, and nothing seemed to have been ransacked. Inside the bathroom, I was just turning around when I noticed a dark shadow standing there still as stone.

"Tori?"

"Beck!" I gasped, jumping slightly but recognizing his voice.

"Did you do that to the door?" Beck asked, turning on the lights and pointing to the mess of the entryway.

"No, it was like that when I came."

"Hmm."

"Do you know where Jade is?" I asked innocently, playing with my fingers and trying not to make it seem like I had pretty much trespassed on their property while I sat on the couch.

"She said she was going to meet with André."

"Oh. That would explain why he didn't pick up when I called him earlier," I said glumly.

"Well, we can spend the rest of the day together if you want," he suggested, a twinkle in his eyes as he pulled some orange juice out of the fridge and two glasses from the cabinet above.

"Yeah…no."

He laughed, pouring himself a glass and handing me the other. I took a long sip from mine and moved to sit by the table. Beck insisted on making me a sandwich, so I got up and was helping him pick out the ingredients when the door snapped open and Jade barged in, a plump old man wearing a tool-belt following her.

"Who's that?" Beck asked immediately, nearly dropping the package of sliced turkey.

"He's here to fix the door," Jade growled, her hands full of with packets of loose papers. "Hey kid."

"Hi."

"How did that happen?" Beck demanded, his cheerfulness gone and turning hostile just like his girlfriend.

"I tripped."

"Oh really?" The carpenter had closed the door and was repairing it outside (probably to get away from all the people), leaving me with the bickering couple. Their conversation wasn't as heated as usual ones, which was a relief, but Beck finally gave up and locked himself in their bedroom. Jade came over, rifling through the contents on the counter.

"Ooo. Sandwiches."

"Can I ask you something?"

Jade turned around, looking startled for some reason. "What?"

"I came up with a plan we can use if we want Sikowitz to stop."

"Really?" her eyebrows rose in question. "You're saying that this time you've come up with a well-thought out, foolproof plan? Because last time you said something like that, I ended up in a random bunch of European mountains with a power-hungry lunatic and fell off a cliff."

"That last part doesn't count. I saved you."

"Your plan?" she asked, ignoring my previous statement.

"Right. So I was thinking, why don't we just go to Sikowitz's office and talk to him face-to-face? Maybe we can guilt him into stopping, since after all, you're the reason he has his power back in the first place."

"This is different, kid. You can't just walk up to a 'president' and tell him what he's doing is wrong, even if it is. This is a business, and sometimes these kinds of things will happen whether you like it or not."

"That's not right."

"It never is."

"Well, there has to be some way around it." I struggled to think of something. "I mean, we both really want him to stop, so maybe…"

"Tori. Give it up. We just need to wait and see how all the other calibers are going to react. Chances are, no one will like it, and we'll all begin a protest. That's safer and much easier, okay?" Jade's tone was getting angry. I opened my mouth to speak, but she interrupted, "Do you remember exactly why Sikowitz paid us millions of dollars after we killed Archelaus?"

"Uh…no."

"He _said_ it was to reward us. But what he didn't tell the rest of you was that it was actually so that I would keep quiet about what I had done. To the rest of the world, Archelaus died because a secret force was sent in, created by Sikowitz himself, not a random group of talented young adults and a child who actually had no idea what they were doing."

"I am a TEENAGER."

"You don't act like it."

For some reason, that _really _set me off, but I had no comeback. Sitting there with my hands in my lap, I sucked my lip into my mouth, biting down and blinking hard.

"Okay, I didn't mean it like that." Jade came over and stood right next to me, unsure if she should touch me or not. "I'm just trying to tell you, kid. You can't jump at every adventure life has. Sometimes you have to sit back and wait for it to happen, or at least let someone else start it."

"So you're saying that we should just wait until someone else does something, when we can do it ourselves?"

"Uh-huh."

"No." I stood up, full of determination. "I'm going to find calibers who aren't lazy like you and want to help me out. I'm going to make my stand. And when I'm right and you're wrong, we'll see who's the real one around here who still acts like a teenager." Spinning on my heel, I charged at the door, almost knocking over the repairman and hurrying down the hall.

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

Unidentified POV

I entered the casual pharmacy store, hunching my shoulders and trying to make myself look as small as possible. Going over to the widespread clothes section, I began to pull different outfits off the racks and see how they would look against my skin, which was still grimy and hadn't been cleaned in days. My actions were clumsy and I kept dropping things, but luckily, no one noticed a thing.

After deciding on a pair of jeans, T-shirt, and thicker jacket, I headed up to the registers, my new clothes draped on my arm. When it was my turn, I walked over to the counter and placed the items on top, reaching into my pocket for some cash.

The worker gave me a friendly smile as he scanned the prices. "Did you find everything okay?" he asked.

I nodded, handing him the seventeen dollars requested.

Accepting them and safely storing them away, he said, "Do you want a bag for these?" I shook my head, taking back the clothes, giving him a wave and leaving. Once I was gone from the store, I went into the nearest gas station, using their bathroom to change and clean myself up a little bit with the paper towels and sink.

The new clothes felt nice against my cleaner skin, and my old ones were now buried deep in the bottom of the trashcan. Feeling better, I bought some food from the store's shelves and left.

Walking up and down the streets, I was overly aware of everyone around me. It's not that they were giving me any rude looks; I was just afraid they'd turn at some point and try to hurt me.

Sitting down on a hot metal bench, I shaded the bright sun from my eyes, popping on my hood even though it was at least eighty-five degrees. I felt more comfortable covered up. Being exposed meant that you were showing off your weakness and the enemy could attack.

I started eating some of my food very slowly, even though I was absolutely starving. I had learned in the labs not to eat too much at once, especially if it had been a while since the last meal. Looking around warily, I shot warning glances at almost every person that passed by.

"Hey, honey, you lost?" a voice asked suddenly.

I glanced up, seeing a handsome man probably in his mid-twenties, wearing a stained white tank top and shorts. His eyes were a chocolate brown like mine, full of lust and romance. I stiffened as he came closer, eventually sitting down right next to me.

Shaking my head, I used my hands to try and tell him that I wasn't interested, but he grabbed onto my arm. Alarmed, I felt my body melt away into the world of the vision I had in the moment.

The both of us were standing on a boardwalk, watching the waves and sharing a soda. I had given in to him, but it didn't seem so bad. As I struggled to look deeper, we went down to the door of his hotel room, and he gestured me inside. I refused, and then he gave me a push forward.

I snapped out of it in the next second. Praying to God that my vision was wrong (because of the odd feeling I was getting in my stomach) and I would be able to get away before any of that happened, I stood up awkwardly, shaking off his arm and starting to walk away.

The man stretched out his legs and began to follow me as I sped away. My heart was thumping fast, the familiar emotions of adrenaline coursing through my veins and bringing back the terrible memories.

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

_"Hold on, one more and we'll be done."_

_ I let out a gurgled cry, my head twisting back and forth in the icy water. My vision was blurred from the chemicals, hands clenched into fists and struggling to break out of their restraints. The cold air in my mask was forcing its way down my throat at a high speed, practically breathing for me since I was too paralyzed to do it myself._

_ There was a sharp pain at the base of my spine. I could hear the monitors observing my heartbeat beeping like crazy. The adrenaline was not enough to cover the panic-mode my body was going into. _

_Just then, fingers inserted into the cut in my back, stretching and pulling the skin apart. The screams echoed in my facemask, which the scientists and doctors couldn't hear. I saw the shadows of legs covered in rubber overalls marching along the outsides of the tank, handing trays with sharp instruments to the people operating on me._

_ Water rushed into the wound as blood spilled out simultaneously; the water turned pink and burned my tortured eyes. People were shouting inaudible things, and I heard the familiar hum of electric wire being unraveled from its spool._

_ The platform below me lifted up, my back breaking the top, but left my face under still. I felt the agonizing pain when the thick pliers entered my body before everything went black._

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

Swinging in my arms to speed up, I forced myself to keep looking forward and stay calm. I knew the man was still following me, a few yards away so he wouldn't make it obvious. Weaving into huge crowds, I managed to throw him off because after that he disappeared. But I was so occupied in looking the other way I didn't see the girl before crashing into her.

"Oops! I'm so sorry!" Now sprawled on the ground, I looked up and saw the terrified face of an older teenager. She offered her hand but I brushed it away, wanting to avoid all skin contact as much as possible.

As I was brushing off my jeans, the light hit the perfect angle on the girl's body, and I caught a glimpse of what exactly she looked like. She was a whole head taller than me, with curly brown hair, chocolate eyes, a smile that gleamed pure white, and a very beautiful set of cheekbones.

That's what I recognized.

She had the exact same features of the girl who had been haunting my visions and dreams for the past six years, and a little bit even before.

_This is the girl who helped Jade defeat Archelaus_.

My heart beat faster in my chest, slamming against my ribcage until I thought the bones would break. I knew what was going to happen to this girl if I didn't find Beck or Jade soon…it wasn't going to be good.

"Uh, I'm Tori," she said, shoving her hands into her pockets, knowing that I wouldn't want to touch her. I blinked. "What's your name?" Keeping my mouth shut, I gazed back hard into her eyes. "All right then. Erm, you wouldn't happen to know anyone named Sikowitz, would you?"

_Erwin Sikowitz, head of Agency? Has he already made his speech to the public about the drug? I'm a little behind schedule, obviously. Okay. Before I do anything else, I need to locate my friends_.

I shrugged my shoulders, lying to Tori that I had no idea.

"Oh. Sorry. I was supposed to meet somewhere here who knew about him, and I guess I thought that was you," she said lamely—even _I _could tell that she wasn't saying the truth. "Well, I'll catch you around then." Tori strode off quickly.

Closing my eyes, I stood in the middle of the sidewalk, rubbing my temples, forcing myself to have a vision.

Hawthorn Lake was my next destination.

* * *

**Eh, I kind of used a similar scene in "Trigger." The part where Jade and Tori are arguing. Tori's reasoning is kind of lame, I know, but she's (kind of) young so that's the way her teenage mind thinks, hahaha. No offense to any teenagers out there. I'm one too and sometimes there's not a very good reason behind an action, right?**

**So who is this unidentified POV that keeps popping up? Next chapter the identity will be revealed/confirmed! :)**


	5. Reconnected

**This chapter is long overdue, but I have some new problems with the plot line to fix out. I'm sure most of you will be pleased with what (kind of) happens in here though. You have all been waiting for this moment for a long time, I think.**

**Thank you to: YeahI'mSmilingButInsideI'mDyin and BelletheWickedWitch. :D**

* * *

CHAPTER 5  
Jade's POV

I watched Tori's retreating back, feeling the fury she left, pondering if I should go after her or let her be the teenager she was. I went with the latter choice, knowing that she was capable of taking care of herself now. She didn't need babysitter Jade to take care of her anymore. Sniff…they grow up so fast.

Beck was in the bedroom, and I didn't really feel like talking to him right now. Grabbing a water bottle from the fridge I told the repairman that I'd be out taking a jog and if he was done before I was back to get Beck to fill out the forms and bills. Then I left the apartment and went down to the lake.

Taking in the sight of the sunlight glimmering across the crystal blue water, the palm trees swaying back and forth in the increasing heat, the smell of burning gravel filling my nose. I started three laps around the mile-wide lagoon.

Once I had finished, an hour hadn't even gone by and I still hadn't broken a sweat. I took a short break sitting down on a bench, glancing over the beautiful scene. There weren't too many people out here running, but that was probably because it was around noon and no one wanted to exercise during the hottest time of the day.

Except me, but then again, I didn't have anything better to do.

Closing my eyes and leaning by head back over the top of the seat, sighing in content and almost ready to fall asleep.

But I woke up _real _quick when someone threw a rock at me.

The stone grazed the side of my shoulder and snapped me out of my trance. Whipping my head up, I saw the red scratch forming where it clipped my skin, and the splash in the water where it landed another ten feet away.

Uncrossing my legs, I twisted to get a look behind, seeing the bushes that lined the perimeter of the path rustling wildly. Craning my neck a little bit to get a better glance at what might be going on, when another rock flew out in a graceful arch and smashed into my forehead before I could deflect it.

Angrily, I yelled, "What is your problem?"

No response and the shrub stopped quivering.

"You don't have to throw rocks to get someone's attention, you know! There's something called civil conversation!" I growled. Right as the words left me, yet another pebble soared into the air, and I managed to dodge it. "What is wrong with you?"

Leaping up, I ran straight into the hedge, knocking into a smaller figure hiding inside. I didn't want to hurt them, but then again, they _had _been throwing pieces of mineral at me, so maybe I could make an exception.

Twigs snapped into my eyes and mouth as I tried to push them away, latching on to what I thought was a thin human arm. The person didn't fight back as I yanked us roughly out of the dense plant, falling on my back with them on top.

Their face was inches from mine, hands clenched around my shoulders. Around the brown, greasy hair, the grimy, pale skin, and the tight-lipped smile, there was one feature that I recognized and could identify anywhere: their eyes.

"Cat?!"

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

Cat's POV

Nodding so fast my neck cracked, I sat back on her legs, pulling her up at the same time. Jade looked absolutely stunned, her mouth gaping and body frozen in disbelief. I tilted my head and gave her a brash grin, struggling to control the flood of cheery emotions that were filling me up.

"Wha-how-wher—" Jade attempted to start a sentence that would have possibly been filled with some sort of inspirational, awestruck question, but ended up with, "Why did you throw rocks at me?"

_I had to get your attention somehow, right_?

"Cat? Is this really you?" she couldn't stop the blabbing, not that I minded. I wanted to hear her voice, because I hadn't heard mine in years. Holding her arm, I gave it a squeeze, noticing that it was very firm and muscular. I kept my eyes focused anywhere but her face, knowing that it would set me off and I didn't want her to know just yet what was wrong with me.

"Archelaus said that he…he said you died…"

_Do you want me to be? And why would you listen to that guy? He tried to kill you and take over both human and caliber races. He obviously shouldn't be trusted_.

"It doesn't matter though! I'm so glad you're alive!" Jade gushed. She leaned forward with her arms spread wide, and I jerked back in response, almost toppling off her legs, thinking that she was going to grab and trap me. Her eyebrows rose, and she said softly, "I…I just wanted to give you a hug."

My mind screamed at me to stop touching her, but I couldn't resist. I couldn't even remember the last time someone was this gentle with me, let alone offering to comfort in the form of a hug. I missed it dearly, and was not going to refuse this chance.

Jade held me in a tight, warm embrace and I felt the hot tears sliding down my face. My own body was bubbling with the exciting sensations, and I completely forgot about my chips. I lay my chin in the crook of her neck, the feeling of her bare skin bringing back such great memories; the last thing I felt was an excruciating shock in my spine, and I passed out immediately.

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

Jade's POV

While I was hugging Cat, she suddenly stopped squeezing the life out of me and jerked violently; I felt a stab in my left hand that was against her back and withdrew it like I had been burnt with fire.

She slumped to the ground because I was no longer holding her, and started twitching, her limbs shaking spastically and uncontrollably. Petrified by the terrible thoughts that swamped my mind, I stood there, silently watching. In seconds she stopped, but remained lying there, not getting up.

Kneeling down, I grabbed her wrist, which was unnaturally thin as my index and thumb could touch when I wrapped around it, and found the erratic pulse pushing through her bloodstream. Without thinking, because I had gone into a panic mode, I tossed her limp form over my shoulder, staggering up and running as fast as I could back to my apartment.

I raced up the stairs, not at all being hindered by the eighty-pound girl I was carrying. It was embarrassing to say that I probably weighed twice as much as she did, but what can I say, we Regenators needed to keep a very solid build if we wanted to heal quickly.

When I reached my door, the repairman had left, leaving in place a smooth piece of wood, but I had no time to reach into my pocket to take out the keys. Instead, I rammed straight into it and knocked it right off the hinges. Beck staggered out of the bedroom as I tripped over the long splinters in my haste to get to the couch. My boyfriend came over as I set the girl gently on the cushions, leaning down to rip the jagged shards from my legs.

"Wait, who is that?" he asked.

"Look," I said, hissing when the last piece was removed and my skin healed over.

"Is that _Cat_?" Beck's voice rose two octaves. "But oh my god…how did you find her…I thought she was supposed to be dead!"

"So did I, but I'm ninety-nine point nine percent sure that that's her."

"What's wrong with her?" Beck held up one of her limp arms, releasing it and letting it fall down with a bouncy thud.

"You tell me. I was just taking a break fro my jog when someone in the bushes behind me threw a rock and wouldn't stop. I tried calling out to them, but they never responded so I went in and pulled her out. Then she went all spazzy on me when I hugged her—you know, kind of how Robbie acts every time I yell at him—and then she passed out and wouldn't wake up."

"Well, why didn't you bring her to the hospital first?" Beck said, looking concerned.

"Um…"

"God, don't you ever think?" his tone became sour. Beck picked up the apartment phone, his fingers stabbing at the numbers 9-1-1. My face burned with my own humiliation and stupidity. Of course Cat wasn't going to be 'okay.' Who knew what had happened to her and the lengths she had gone to get all the way over here. So far she hadn't spoken a word since we first met, her face unnaturally pale and sickly. What kind of friend was I to deny bringing her medical hope over my own wants to stay with her?

Suddenly, Cat started stirring on the couch. Hurrying over, she had rolled onto her back and was trying to sit up, blinking sleepily and rubbing her eyes. I was hesitant to touch her, knowing what had happened the last time I did, but eventually my internal protective instinct took over and I held her hand while she tried to recover.

"Are you okay, Cat?" Beck had hung up, his curiosity as strong as mine. Cat was nodding, but when Beck came into her sight of vision, she started shaking her head violently. Closing her eyes again, her fingers gripped mine until I heard my knuckles pop.

"Cat?" I asked in a pained voice.

She continued shaking her head, blood sliding down her chin from where she had her lip between her teeth.

"Beck. I think you should back up."

My boyfriend obliged immediately, never breaking eye contact with the girl, even though she wasn't looking at him now. He retreated into the kitchen, standing far behind the counter.

"Why is she—" he began worriedly.

"Shush!"

It took another five minutes for Cat to re-open her eyes. My hand had gone numb now; it felt like the bones had now healed in their awkward positions of being crushed and smashed together. That was going to be a pain to fix.

She looked at me, and I was startled. The chocolate gaze, normally very kind and innocent and childish was now burning with intense hatred and anger. If she had had laser vision, she would've melted me into a puddle and turned the floor into a dust pile.

"Cat? Can you hear me?" She released my mangled hand, and I winced when I saw how bad the damage was. My thumb and index were sitting sideways in their sockets, my middle half-twisted at the second knuckle; the ring finger was longer than normal and my pinky drooped to the side, broken in four places.

The girl nodded, her mouth turning into an apologetic smile.

"Are…are you going to be okay now? What just happened to you those few minutes ago?" I persisted. Beck was shuffling his feet uneasily, wanting to know more but afraid to get any closer to her.

Cat stared at me hard, like she was trying to tell me something.

"Uhm…" I said, unsure.

"Cat?" Beck's voice was barely above a whisper, but the girl caught it, her head perking up. She started to turn her head in his direction but stopped herself. I pulled my thumb back into its correct place, keeping my hiss to myself when the bone snapped to fit into the hollow.

Beck looked upset and appalled that his best friend since second grade was refusing to look at him even. I felt bad for him, and wanted very much to leave the room, but that would probably not be a good idea.

"What's wrong, Cat?" I tried a different approach this time to get the girl to speak.

Silence.

"Cat?" I tried again.

She sniffed; the first actual sound I had heard her voluntarily make. Something was terribly wrong with her. I should've figured it out as soon as we met. Cat was a bubbly, outgoing person; there would be no reason why she was quiet and not laughing her contagious giggle unless something wasn't right.

"Cat?" Beck said.

The girl looked up at him. With tears running down her face.

* * *

**:D and :'( for Cat, right? Now we know for sure that she is alive! But why isn't she talking? Hmm...**

**So I hope you all thought that it was worth the wait...maybe. Wouldn't you like to review and tell me? ;)**


	6. Flashback

**Did you guys know that a week from today, it will be my first anniversary of becoming a fanfic author? Yay! My life is so much more exciting with all of the nice comments and stuff you guys leave behind. :D So yes. To celebrate, I will update all of my current stories (this and _Don't Sleep_...) and be open to answer any questions (through P.M.s) that anyone might have.**

**This chapter is a little disturbing just to warn everyone. However, we learn some incredibly important information. The italicized part is a flashback as well as what contains a somewhat 'gruesome' scene. **

**Shout outs to: BelletheWickedWitch and YeahI'mSmilingButInsideI'mDyin. I hope all of you have a great day! ;D**

* * *

CHAPTER 6  
Cat's POV

_ "Hello, Kitty Cat."_

_ I glanced up, only to meet the shadow-green gaze of Archelaus Patterstone. He was standing about five feet away from me, as if he were afraid to get any closer. Dr. Brewer had his assistances bustling around and fitting thick cuffs to my body, strapping me down tightly to the table._

_ "What experiment will you be carrying out today, Dr. Brewer?" Archelaus asked his hired employee, placing a tentative hand on the man's thin shoulder. _

_ Dr. Keir Brewer was in charge of all medical testing in Archelaus's secret underground lab in California. He was a caliber of course, an IQer, and had an extreme fascination for how the caliber bodies worked and how they differed from other ones._

_ Up until now, I was left alone in my cell, but I had to watch everyday as my fellow calibers were taken from their own and up to 'the doctor's office' as it was called only to never come back. One of the few friends I had made here, a Hypnoser in the next chamber, had left to see Dr. Brewer. It was two weeks later when I heard that he had cracked her head open in attempt to see how her brain and eyes worked to hypnotize people. _

_ "We will completing experiment one: apply clips to the subject's vocal cords, which will restrict her ability of speech and verbal communication. Once she has recovered, we will bring her back to finish the other two, and then she will be ready to serve you, sir," Dr. Brewer explained, his words in a gleeful, almost mocking tone. _

_ "Ah, it's about time you've starting working on this. The poor thing's had to wait a few years for you." Archelaus eyed me evilly, but when we made contact, he looked away immediately, his expression tightening. _

That's right, Mister_, I thought to myself_, if you keep looking at me, I'll see your future and let you know how exactly you're going to die_…_

_ "Well, hurry up, then Keir."_

_ Dr. Brewer frowned at Archelaus's impatient words but quickly collected himself. "All right. Miss Cat, because we aren't wholly heartless people, we're going to let you say one word whenever you'd like, so technically you won't be mute. What word you like to say?"_

_ I thought hard, my train of thought being interrupted when someone came forward and placed a band across my neck, holding me down firmly. There were so many options to choose from; but I could only chose one. So I picked a word that wouldn't make them suspicious of the future and could possibly save someone's life._

_ Giving it to Dr. Brewer, he fiddled around in his computer behind my head, which I couldn't see because I was tied down so tightly. I was terrified out of my mind, but knowing that if I could survive, my life would become a lot better._

_ "Mr. Patterstone, would you like to hang around and watch the procedure or would you rather…?"_

_ "I'll leave. I don't want to be a disturbance, and I need to map out the new areas we will be recruiting at." And with that, Archelaus whisked himself out the door, which closed with a slam. _

_ Dr. Brewer stood above me, holding in his hands what looked like a big, metal helmet, with slots for the eyes and mouth. Struggling violently, he slipped the contraction on my head and the bottom reached my shoulders. My face was cold inside as I peered out the eyeholes, watching an assistant step up to give help._

_ A hinge above and below my mouth swung open like a crocodile's jaws and someone wrenched my lips apart, hooking the steel teeth underneath them, leaving me unable to close it._

_ Now the real terror was setting in. I curled my fingers into fists, fighting myself to not cry. There was cranking noise and the halves pulled back, stretching my mouth to the point where the skin on my cheeks was tearing. _

_ Finally it stopped, but by now, my face was turning numb and was shaking in fear._

_ "Okay, Cat, we're now going to be inserting these two clips into your mouth and down your throat, which will then attach to your vocal cords. Until we attach the spine chip, they won't have any effect in disabling your speech, but you will need to get used to them first."_

_ He was holding a clothespin-shaped object connected to a thin wire above me. Placing it on the tip of my tongue, I fought back as best as I could, using the muscle to spit it away. Sighing, Dr. Brewer grabbed my tongue painfully, holding it out of the way as he shoved the clip into my mouth and stuck it down my throat._

_ I gagged like an animal, the object feeling too big to go down any further. Dr. Brewer used the piece of wire to push it in deeper as my throat constricted, cutting off my air supply too. I felt like throwing up, but in my awkward position and the fact that I hadn't eaten in several days, I had nothing to bring up._

_ Suddenly, the wire stopped moving and I relaxed for a few seconds._

_ "This might sting a little bit," Dr. Brewer said, almost happily._

_ SNAP._

_ The sound seemed to echo as the clip closed around something sharply, causing me to seize as the pain washed around uneasily. I almost ripped my mouth straight out of the steel jaws, my fingers turning into claws and scrabbling frantically at the table. _

_ Trying to scream, the noise was simply a low hiss that sounded like helium leaking from a balloon. _Oh no_!_

_ "Good job, Kitty Cat. Only one more to go."_

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

Jade's POV

"I'm calling an ambulance." Beck's was determined as he lunged for the phone. I cradled my hand towards my chest, craning my neck to watch in disbelief as Cat leaped up, running towards him and wrenching the object out of his hand before slamming it down on the receiver. "Cat!" he exclaimed.

_No_, she shook her head. Reaching into the pockets of her jacket, she pulled out a wallet—_my _wallet.

"Hey!" I said, more in surprise than anger. "So you're the one who came in last night."

Cat nodded, holding it out to me and I took it gratefully. While she was turned around and looking at Beck, I snuck a peak inside the leather billfold and saw that one twenty was missing. _No big deal_, I thought, slipping it into my pocket.

"Wait, what happened last night?" Beck asked, looking over Cat's head to lock with my gaze.

"Cat came into the apartment and snatched my wallet," I replied complacently. "That's why the door was unlocked this morning. I forgot to shut it properly after chasing after her and failing."

"_Oh_." He looked a little setback.

"Do you want something to eat, Cat?" I asked, switching the subject. Her shoulders bounced up and down but eventually started nodding. "Okay. Beck will make you a sandwich." His eyebrow raised. "Because I can't, since my hand is all messed up and I need to fix it. Where's the tool box?"

The box of construction supplies was something I was forced to keep in the apartment if I needed extra help in healing any injuries. Usually it was when my fingers were broken and had healed in wrong places, so I needed to use pliers or a hammer to put them back.

"Where you last left it," Beck replied, helping Cat sit down at the table and going through the fridge.

Entering the bedroom, I lifted the skirt of the queen-sized bed and slid my hand under, patting the carpet and trying to locate the metal box. It wasn't there. Shoving my arm up to the elbow, I desperately felt around for it.

"Beck!" I shouted. "It's not here!"

"Oh right. I gave it to André; sorry," he replied from the kitchen.

"Why?" I whined, leaving.

"I didn't think it was very safe to use."

Rolling my eyes, I went back into the living room. Cat was staring at her sandwich, her fingers reaching out to touch the crust before shrinking away, slouching in her seat until her nose was level with the edge of the table.

"What's wrong, Cat?" Beck asked, pointedly ignoring me. "Do you want something else?"

Cat shook her head, blowing air out of her mouth and letting her untrimmed bangs fly up. Her hair, usually a red velvet color, had faded significantly, the crimson staining the last few inches while the rest was her natural dark brown.

"How have you been, Cat?" I said, wrapping my fingers around my index, pulling it gently to the right until there was a pop; I paused, swallowing the pain and continuing until was correctly adjusted and then waiting for it to heal properly.

She remained as silent as ever, her dark eyes growing wide.

"Are you…are you sure you're okay, Cat?" Beck sounded worried.

The girl continued nodding or shaking her head to answer our questions; why in the world was she not speaking? Did Archelaus have her vocal cords ripped out or something? I shuddered at the thought. In high school, Cat had one of the most beautiful singing voices I've ever heard; it would be devastating if she would not be able to sing like that again.

Suddenly, two people entered our apartment through the busted opening: Tori and Trina. They trampled across the floor, Trina holding tightly onto her sister's arm, a look of fury on her face.

"Jade!" she screeched, her hair neatly combed back and she was dressed in a nice skirt and buttoned top.

"There is something called knocking," I replied testily.

"There's no door," Tori said, smiling until Trina gave her a rough shake to shut her up.

"Why did you let Tori go out talking to strangers by herself?" the eldest Vega accused. "I was coming back from my interview when I caught _this one _running around the streets making conversations with random people! I thought you were supposed to be watching over her!"

"I'm not being paid to play babysitter." The hair on the back of my neck bristling in anger. "And she is more of your responsibility. For God's sake, you're her _sister_. I'm just her _friend_. Kind of."

Tori looked amused but hurt.

"Calm down, please," Beck warned.

"I caught her talking to strangers about taking down Sikowitz!" Trina rambled.

"And? God, Trina, why are you yelling at me, anyway? It's your sister that did it!" I had forgotten about Beck and Cat in the same room until Tori pointed them out.

"Hey! Didn't I just see you outside a while ago? Who's that, Jade?" Tori interrupted, gesturing at Cat and breaking out of Trina's grip to approach my friend still sitting at the table. Beck moved at the same time, taking up a protective stance in front of the smaller girl.

"What is going on?" Trina shouted, confused.

"Her. I accidentally knocked into her earlier when I was walking around outside." Tori was a few feet away from Cat, who was now hiding behind Beck, her fingers twisted in the side of his shirt. "Who is she?"

"That's Cat," I explained, beginning to grasp the situation.

"Whoa…you mean…_the _Cat? The one who had the visions of us—" Tori began.

Without warning, Cat bounced away from Beck, barreling into me and holding my waist painfully tight.

"It's okay, Cat," I whispered, "It's just Tori. She's not going to hurt you."

"Of course not," Tori reassured, taking a step forward.

Cat shook her head frantically, point at Tori, who stopped in her tracks when she noticed the other girl acting very scared. Cat slapped my stomach to get my attention and then jabbed a finger at Tori.

"What? What's wrong?"

She looked up at me as everyone else had gone silent. Cat's big, brown eyes were fearful, as she opened her mouth, and in a voice that obviously hadn't been used in a while judging from how raspy it was, said the first word I'd heard from her all day:

"Predicter."

* * *

**So the whole 'sticking clips onto someone's vocal cords' probably isn't possible, but this is fiction, and in the world of calibers, there are a lot of things that they can do that humans wouldn't survive.**

**Thanks for reading today's installment (the next one will come exactly a week from today). Hopefully you thought it was somewhat intriguing. :)**


	7. Something Isn't Right

**Let us all take a moment to celebrate my one year anniversary of joining this site. I seriously have no idea where I'd be without it. If anyone following this story has also been with me since the beginning, then I will also clap for you. :)**

**Anyway, have fun reading this chapter. It's pretty intense.**

**Dedicated to: BelletheWickedWitch, JessyRae, and the Guest (were you also the guest on my _Trigger _story who reviewed almost every chapter or was that someone else? Just curious ;D). **

* * *

CHAPTER 7  
Jade's POV

"No, no, Cat. Tori's a Kinecter. Not a Predicter," I corrected calmly. Cat continued to let out the word "Predicter" over and over while pointing to Tori.

"Erm, no, I'm a Kinecter," Tori said awkwardly. "Look." She lifted the half-eaten sandwich off of its plate on the table and let it fall back, the contents of it spilling apart. "But are you a Predicter?"

"Yes," I replied, putting the word in her mouth.

"Wait…is this Cat? _The _Cat that you told me about a while ago that had the visions that told her we were going to take Archelaus down?" Tori was in complete awe and she looked like a total idiot right now.

"Okay, kid, enough with the questions," I snapped when Cat started shaking. Awkwardly, I patted her head with my good hand, the bad one still hanging by my side.

"What happened to your hand?" Tori took notice immediately.

"Feel free to leave whenever you want," I growled, hiding it behind my back. "Seeing as the door is no longer there, you don't even need a key. Just walk right out as you please."

"I don't want to leave."

"Hi, Cat," Trina said in a soft voice I had never heard before, waving at her. "I'm Trina, and as this is my stupid little sister Tori."

"Why are you all so mean to me?" Tori whined, shoving Trina against the couch.

"Silly girl," Trina chuckled. "You're such a baby, Tori."

"No I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"Am not!"

"Are too."

"Hey!" I shouted, interrupting the annoying banter. "What the heck are you guys here for anyway? Because in case you haven't noticed, I'm actually _really _busy right now." Cat pressed her face into my side.

"I was just here to yell at you for letting my sister go out alone," Trina admitted brashly, shrugging her shoulders. "And then I was going to ask you guys if you wanted to go bowling with me and Robbie."

"Bowling?" Beck asked skeptically, but I could tell that he was smiling.

"Uh-huh."

"The answers are Tori's not entirely my responsibility, and no."

"Predicter," Cat whimpered, pointing again at Tori.

"She's a Kinecter," I reminded her gently, but the girl was stubborn. In the frustration, I took it out on myself by re-breaking the two of my fingers and rolling my eyes and wincing. "And do I need to ask you guys again?"

"Predicter!" Cat exclaimed.

Confused and annoyed, I scratched my temple, blowing air through my lips. "You know, maybe we should just take you to the hospital, Cat," Beck suggested. "I'll call the doctor—" Upon hearing the word 'doctor,' Cat sprung away from me, crouching on the down and covering her eyes and the back of her neck.

"God Beck, look what you did," I snarled.

Tori knelt down and tried to uncurl Cat from her tight ball. Beck stepped over them to me, his hand latching on to my shoulder and leaning close to my ear.

"Let me read her mind," he whispered. "Maybe we can get some answers that way."

"That's kind of a violation," I responded, "and you don't know what she's been through. It might agitate her a lot more if you try."

"No, no, I can handle it. Hey, Cat!" Beck called out. The girl's head snapped up and he made eye contact, immediately collapsing to the floor, groaning.

"You idiot. What did you see?"

"Archelaus," he panted. Cat blinked apologetically, shrugging as Tori helped her up before sitting down on the couch. "Archelaus Patterstone was just standing there and laughing at me."

"Serves you right."

"I…I don't think Cat was really thinking about him," Beck continued, becoming increasingly worried. "He did something to her and now I can't get into her head."

"Let's bring her to André," I suggested. "He keeps calling himself a 'doctor.' Maybe it's about time we actually get to see him do his thing."

"Fine."

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

Beck managed to get Trina to 'leave,' although she ended up going out to find Robbie and would meet us at the lab. Tori was persistent and wanted to help with us, so I didn't argue anymore with her, saying that if Cat went berserk, I couldn't be held accountable for anything.

I offered to help Cat take a shower, since she was covered in grime and grease, but as soon as I asked her to remove _some _of her clothes, she sprinted towards the locked door and slid to the floor, swatting me away viciously and knocking my head against the sink.

Dazed, I decided that if she didn't want it, she didn't need it. She gestured that she wasn't in any pain, and the sooner we got to André's, the better. Beck fit the door back in place, although we'd need to get a new one later.

We took all the back alleys possible, wanting to stay away from the large crowds. Tori bounced along in the front, excited to be part of the action. Cat hid between Beck and me, insisting on touching the both of us. She had her back against my hip, the rest of her body embracing my boyfriend. I'm glad we weren't in the complete public, because we might look like a young married couple with their extremely old, almost-like-she-was-the-same-age-as-her-parents adopted daughter.

Tori knocked on the door and our dark-skinned friend answered immediately.

"Ah, I've been expecting you lot. Trina and Robbie are already here." André dragged us through the dark passage into his main lab room. Sure enough, the friend-zoned pair were waiting, looking eager to catch another glimpse of Cat.

"This is Miss Cat Valentine," Beck announced, gesturing to the smaller girl. I saw Robbie's eyes grow wide when he set sight on her, and then he started blushing furiously when she noticed him. "She's a Predicter and not in great shape right now, so if you don't mind, _Doctor _André, would you take a look over her?"

"You're the Archelaus survivor, then?" André immediately took up a professional posture, walking over and offering his hand to Cat. Cat remained motionless; I was afraid she had forgotten how to respond in a situation like this. Hesitantly, she held out her own hand and he grasped it gently, pumping it up and down a few times. "It's an honor to meet you."

Cat nodded, looking over his head at Robbie. She pointed at the Dimensioner and then glanced up at me.

"That's Robbie," I informed her.

Robbie ran his hand across his face, taking off his glasses and wiping them on the hem of his shirt like he was embarrassed. I snickered, already getting the sense that his relationship with Trina was going to end _real _quick.

"We're all friends here, but if you don't feel comfortable with so many people Cat, then we can have them step outside," Beck said, putting his hand on her shoulder. Cat shrugged; she didn't mind. It was amazing how brave she was being right now. I had so many questions for her, but seeing that she wasn't talking, hopefully André could figure out the reason behind it.

"Okay, Miss…Valentine, was it? Please come over here and hop up on this table." André patted the steel furniture and Cat went with Beck towards it. I remained a little way back; Trina, Robbie and Tori stood by the door.

Beck lifted Cat onto it, remaining by her side as André rolled up his sleeves and cracked his neck.

"Are you in any pain right now, Cat?" André asked.

Cat shrugged, but reached behind her, tapping the back of her neck, right above where her spine connected. André nodded, saying, "Do you mind if I…" She obliged, gathering up the hair in her left hand and pulling it upwards into a makeshift ponytail while André maneuvered so he could get a closer look.

"You've got a bit of a lump here. Bit by any insects recently?" André observed, his fingers skimming over her skin. Cat shook her head, pressing her lips together almost uneasily. I felt my body growing hot with overprotective-ness and took a step forward.

"Maybe if I do some sort of scan I'll be able to identify what it is," André mused. "Okay. Before we do that, anything else?" Cat once again touched her neck. "Yes, I'll be sure to check that. But is there any other part of you that hurts? No? Okay. Let me grab my wand."

André disappeared from the room as I walked over to Beck and Cat. Judging from my boyfriend's expression and stance, he was growing extremely concerned; I didn't blame him. I wanted to know what was wrong with our best friend too.

Robbie had inched over stealthily, letting his curiosity and lust get the better of him. Now he was only a few yards away from us. Trina was bored, playing games on her PearPhone and Tori was sitting on the floor, her head in her hands and scrunching up her face in an awkwardly cute smile.

Dr. André appeared with a foot-long, three-inch thick wand in his hand.

"What is that?"

"A metal detector wand," he replied.

"Um…"

"It's safe. I'm getting the feeling that she's got a chip inside of her, and they're almost always made out of a type of metal. I'll run this thing over her and if it gets set off, then I'm right, and we can go for a more serious approach. Geez, Beck, did you really think I was going to have an x-ray machine in here or something?" André explained rationally.

"You're supposed to be a _doctor_!"

"Moving on!" André shouted, throwing his hands up. "Cat, can you lie on your back, please? I need to strap you—"

She was off the table and out of his reach before he had even finished his sentence. Robbie spun on his heel, slipping before his arms could catch her waist. I snagged her legs, bringing us to the floor and placing a hand over her stomach and shoulders.

Cat fought violently, banging her head against my chest. I could've sworn the breath was knocked out of me with an odd, dull clang, and when her forehead popped under my chin, I almost blacked out.

It was like her skull was reinforced with metal. Or was it…?

Beck and Robbie rushed forward to hold her tightly and place her back on the table. There was a bruise fading underneath my fingers as I prodded my jaw. "Make sure you scan her head too," I mumbled as Cat was comforted by my friends into a calmer state.

"Cat, I'm just going to wave this wand over your body and see if you've got any of the metal chips I think you have," André clarified. "It's not going to hurt at all, okay?" Cat nodded slowly, pulling Beck towards her and holding his hand. A stab of jealousy rushed through me; what did I have to be jealous about? She was my friend too and would never try and take something that wasn't hers.

Robbie was growing agitated watching them prepare, and suddenly he dimensioned, going God knows where. Trina rubbed her eyes and said she wanted some fresh air, and Tori went after her.

Finally Beck managed to lie Cat down on her back, and she was trembling as André brought the staff over her face. He pushed the button as she shut her eyes, and a shrill beeping, indicating that metal had indeed been found, cut into the air.

Swallowing hard, he continued sweeping towards her legs, the gadget going quiet once more. "Can you flip over, please?" Cat rolled onto her stomach, burying her face in her arms.

As soon as the wand was over Cat's neck, it started beeping wildly. I could see André tensing up as he brought it lower and lower down her back, the noise continuous and never-ending as it traveled the full length of her spine.

"How…?" Beck asked, astonished and appalled.

When it reached her waist, the wand shut off again. André dropped the object to his side, unable to comprehend the horror which we had witnessed. Cat had metal implants in her skull, neck, back…

"What exactly happened to you?"

* * *

**I think these last few chapters have been really drawn out, and I'm really sorry. But there's a lot of preparing to do before the main event comes, mwahaha. So I'm at least trying to make it a goal for you guys to learn at least one new thing in each chapter. And I'm sure you learned something in this, if you read carefully, right (it's a big, obvious hint at the end)?**

**And only this one time (because it's the one-year anniversary), anyone who reviews will get a preview of the next chapter, which by the way, contains some of a flashback on part of what happened to Cat. :) Okay. I'm going to go update my other story now. See you all around next time, yes? ;D**


	8. Safe With Us

**Okay, so the last chapter was a hit and did amazing and I'm still trying to figure out why. If you guys want, I can send you a preview of the next chapter still. My reward to you for taking the time to review. **

**And so we begin yet another chapter that holds a flashback (which someone of you have already part of). Correct me if I'm wrong, but these past few chapters have been kind of the same thing, which I apologize for. The action, when it does come, is going to be a pretty big hit to take in, so I'll just build up until that point. But don't worry. We get more productive as we go on.**

**Lots of different pairings in this one. :D**

**Super shout-outs to: Sea-Green93, viet girl14, gymnastgirl26, Azkadellio, JessyRae and the guest, i love predictor. :)**

* * *

CHAPTER 8  
_Cat's POV_

_Everything hurts. _

_ Why do they keep doing this to me?_

_ I want to die._

_ Pulling my knees up to my chest, I bent forward, wincing when my spine curved. I wiped my face, unable to hold the position before the pain became too much and I flopped backwards onto the thin mattress. _

_ Massaging the base of my back and my throat, the tears threatened to spill out from my eyes, even though there was nothing left to cry out. Dr. Brewer had claimed that they were going to hurt me no more. But I knew that was a lie. They had only finished the experiments; now it was time to turn me into their slave. That would be as bad, if not worse, knowing that I was completely going against my will. _

_ I needed to get out of here before that happened. I had lost track of how long I had been here, anyway. Maybe two, three years, take or leave a few weeks. The days melted into one; I hadn't seen the sunlight in forever, and my life was lived in a continuous cycle of cell time and torture, whether it be from the tests or just the guards wanting to have some 'fun.'_

_ My escape plan was simple: knock down the watchmen coming to bring me my food, take whatever weapons he might have, and run. It had a lot of holes, but I tried not to think about them. If I had enough determination, I'd be able to get out. _

_ Trying to stretch out my legs, I felt the sharp twinge in my back and screwed up my face. Cupping my forehead with my hands, I pressed my temples in, trying to think of something other than the escape. _

_ No one would be able to read my mind as long as the metal reflector plates were on, and I still hadn't forgotten about the bloody surgery that allowed them to be implanted into my skull. _

_ Sometimes I thought about Beck, and Jade. They meant everything to me, and now I had the strange feeling that they were going to die. The visions of them were almost always filled with violence and anger; sometimes Jade would be falling off a cliff and Beck would be bleeding out in some back alley. I spent nights crying about it, hoping that they wouldn't come true. _

_ The lock on the steel door to my concrete cell clicked, and I knew right away that someone was opening it. Gathering my wits, I tensed upon the tiny cot, waiting for the moment to strike. _

_ A short woman, dressed in Archelaus's black-with-blue-lining costume, strode in, her head turning, searching for me in the darkness. To save money costs, Archelaus almost never turned on the lights in the cells, leaving us in the black gloom. Sometimes the single bulb would be lit, allowing me to properly fix myself up, but that was very rare. _

_ The figure spotted me and started lumbering over. As soon as they were inches away, I leaped at them, my fists hitting every spot I could reach. But either I wasn't punching very hard or this person didn't mind, because they pushed me right off and threw me on the floor. _

_ I scrambled to stand, pain pulsing through my limbs, but the woman held me down, shaking her head while grabbing something near her beltline. _

_ "Cat, Cat, stop. Here." She pulled my hand up roughly, shoving something heavy and cold into it. _

_ A gun._

_ Pointing to the door, she whispered the words in a voice I did not recognize but would never forget: "Run, Cat."_

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

Jade's POV

"Do you think we should bring her to an actual hospital?" I proposed. "Because I'm not quite sure I'd trust André's way of examining a patient."

"Let's ask her," Beck replied, watching Cat sit up slowly. "Cat, would you like us to take you to a place where you can be looked over…with professional equipment?" he asked. André scowled, but didn't look overly offended. Cat shook her head.

Just then, Robbie appeared again in a cloud of green. He was holding a cherry Popsicle in his hand as he came over, offering it to Cat. She accepted it with a shy, tearing off the wrapper and beginning to eat it.

"Where'd you get that?" I said.

"The ice cream stand on the corner," he replied, shrugging his shoulders like it was nothing. He was positively beaming as Cat ate it quickly, biting off chunks and swallowing them whole.

"And you didn't get me anything?"

Robbie went red.

"I see. Well, don't get too far ahead of yourself, mister. I'm pretty sure the last thing on Cat's mind is finding her forever sweetheart."

"It wasn't like that," Robbie stammered.

_ Uh-huh_. I swear, Robbie had the weirdest methods of flirting. But I guess it was okay; the Popsicle would probably help Cat's throat so maybe she could talk to us more.

"You guys…I think if I had a real x-ray machine I could really see what's going on with Cat. If I had the right supplies I could build one here. I know the companies that sell them, though, and if Robbie could help bring me there, I could construct one and we'll be able to figure out what's going on real quick," André suggested.

"Do it. I'm not going to be waiting around for a hundred years." I paused, thinking of what I could do in the meantime. "I'll find Tori and maybe we can go patrol a lake or something. Can you stay here with Cat, Beck? Since I assume André and Robbie will be busy otherwise."

"Sure." Beck hopped up and sat down next to Cat. She was finished with her frozen treat, and leaned her head on his shoulder, sighing softly.

I turned away from the sight, trotting towards the door and opening it to reveal a bright stream of hot sunlight. Then something collided into me. "What the—"

"Hi Jade!" Tori greeted. "I was waiting for you to come out."

"Okay, now I'm here."

"Yes." She nodded solemnly.

"Well, at least you had the smarts not to go in. No offense, kid, but I don't think Cat likes you very much," I admitted to her.

"Just because someone mistakes my type of caliber power doesn't mean they don't like me."

"You really can't take a hint sometimes, can you, kid?"

Tori ignored my statement. "What are we going to do now? Where are the guys?"

"André is forcing Robbie to take him to the warehouses or wherever the heck you get supplies to build your own x-ray machine, Beck is hanging out with Cat, and I don't want to hang around if I'm unneeded."

"Cat's one of your best friends and been missing from your life for six years. Don't you want to spend some time with her?"

"I don't think that's the Cat I know."

"Can we go on a patrol?" she asked excitedly.

"Nah," I replied, ditching that idea. "I'm hungry."

"You always are."

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

Once we were seated in my second-favorite diner, Trina seemed to vaporize out of nowhere and joined us, pushing Tori up against the wall when she squeezed her way into the booth.

"I still can't believe you let my baby sister out by herself," Trina said, wanting to start _that _argument again.

"You should've been watching her," I countered.

"I can take perfectly good care of myself," Tori objected.

"No you can't," Trina and I said unknowingly in unison. She nodded and offered her hand in a high-five, which I turned down immediately.

"Excuse me! Am I the only one around here who had the plan to go and _civilly _talk to Sikowitz about stopping his plan instead of either sitting around and waiting for someone else to step up, or wanting to get into a physical war with him?"

"I apply to neither of those actions."

"Wait…that's it!" Trina exclaimed suddenly.

"You're agreeing with _Jade_?" Tori said sullenly.

"No…Sikowitz! Tori, that's a great idea!"

I scrunched my eyes at her as she continued. "Remember, Sikowitz announced a few weeks ago that any victim of Archelaus Patterstone was entitled to free insurance for the recovery process? Cat can be considered as one of his victims, right?"

"Yeah," I said, understanding where she was heading.

"So we can go and ask him for his help! Maybe he'll know a little more on the experiments that went on down in the underground labs, because Cat most likely won't say anything to us." Trina looked so proud of herself in that moment that I wanted to slap the happy off her face.

"_And _we can also ask him about the drugs!" Tori added.

"For once, and I can't believe that I'm actually saying this, I agree with Trina. And no Tori. You can go do that on your own time. We're heading to Agency for another reason, and that reason only."

"But…"

"No."

Tori slumped in her seat, defeated. Feeling slightly satisfied that we were on our way to the victory of Cat Valentine, the waiter arrived just in time with our food. Maybe today wasn't going to be nearly as terrible as I'd thought.

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

Beck's POV

Cat was growing antsy beside me as we watched Robbie and André examine a large sketch of an x-ray machine on the main screen. André was pointing rapidly to different pieces, scribbling down on his PearPad what they'd need to get and where to get it. Poor Robbie looked so lost and embarrassed. I was impressed at how quickly André could figure out everything and I guessed he must have some really good connections if he planned on getting all of the equipment today.

Eventually Cat became bored enough to get off the table, teetering over to the door. I ran after her, grabbing her arm before she could open it. She turned around, staring at me with wide eyes.

"You're not thinking of running off, are you?" I asked.

She scrunched her face up and smiled, shaking her head. She pointed at the handle, indicating that she wanted to go outside. Looking over my shoulder at the boys, Robbie was yanking at his curly hair, becoming increasingly frustrated as André showed him pictures of the stores and where he'd need to dimension them to.

"All right, we can go outside; but just for a little bit." Taking her hand gently, I led us into the warm breeze. Cat opened her mouth in awe, allowing the wind to blow into her throat and against her pale face.

She tugged on my hand, wanting to leave the shade of the alley and travel towards the sidewalk several dozen feet away. I obliged, promising myself to keep a sharp eye on her. Cat made a strange noise; it sounded like a squeal of joy as she threw her hands up and basked in the cheerful glory.

I smiled, marveling at how innocent and adorable she was acting. It was hard to believe what had happened to her. Then again, Archelaus claimed to do things only for the greater good, and that meant having to make sacrifices along the way. He'd give that speech all the time, particularly before he killed another caliber for disobeying him. I'd hardly survived him, and that was just following him around to commit his dirty deeds. Cat had it much worse, so bad, I think, that this was why she was being so mute and wary.

Suddenly she paused in her little dance, reaching to touch her neck, slouching over like a hunchback and trudging towards me.

"What's wrong?" I asked, afraid that something bad was coming.

Cat stuck out her lip, upset, but gestured that we should go back to the lab. Oddly, she had stopped being so happy and now looked like a miserable wreck, his frayed hair standing on end and her arms dangling limply by her sides.

I placed my hand on her shoulder, being her guide and letting her know that nothing bad would ever happen to her again.

* * *

**So the fiction and impossible-ness in this story is getting kind of out of control, huh? I understand that it would probably take weeks until an x-ray machine could be built, but André is a super genius, so let's pretend he can have it done very soon. :D**

**If you didn't see it above, if you review, and have an account (sorry, Guests), I can send you a short preview of the next chapter. Ask me any questions you have of what will happen in the future and theories and stuff like that and I will respond.**

**Byee and happy Thanksgiving! **


	9. Preparations

**So the progress in this story is being made little by little. A lot slower than I'd like, unfortunately, but you just have to roll with the punches, right? ;D I wish Cat's POV at the end could be a little longer and more detailed but I had to cut it short. Next, next chapter, you get a really long flashback of her, so I think that can make up for it. ;D**

**Thanks to: JessyRae, BelletheWickedWitch and gymnastgirl26. :)**

* * *

CHAPTER 9  
Jade's POV

I finished the uneventful meal with the Vega sisters before we were ready to return to André's lab. As soon as we entered, it was made evident that he and Robbie had been very busy: the large room seemed to have shrunk down significantly in size and had at least a dozen cardboard boxes, many almost eight feet long, neatly stacked one side. Beck and Cat were nowhere to be seen.

"Hello?" Tori asked, her voice sounding tiny and pathetic. She walked to the center, looking around. "Hello?"

"Beck? Cat?" I called.

"Hey, Jade," Beck's voice replied from one of the room's two entryways. Cat was bounding behind him, looking very clean and her hair was damp. Her clothes were slightly wet and hanging loosely on her petite frame, but she seemed to be happy. "I convinced Cat to take a shower so we could go and get her hair dyed that red-velvet color again."

"She's not a child, Beck. She's the same age as us, heck, she's even a month older than me!" I said. I didn't really mean for my words to be taken to heart; it was just rather upsetting to me that he was spending so much time taking care of Cat when that should've been my job.

"Excuse me. You're not the one who was held hostage for years."

"Are André and Robbie still out?" Trina intervened, knowing that things could get ugly if the two of us were allowed to argue, and that would probably scare the chiz out of Cat.

"Yeah," Beck said, patting the top of his head. "They're not even halfway through with the supplies."

"Hey, Trina, you should tell Beck what you think we should with Cat." My tone made it seem like we were going to eat the poor girl or something, when really I was referencing the events in the restaurant. Cat seemed to sense the same thing, and hid behind Beck fearfully.

Quickly, Trina explained the plan of talking to Sikowitz and asking for his help in the matter, and Cat seemed to relax after that. Beck agreed that it was an excellent idea, to which Trina gave him her signature flirty wink and smile. I stepped on her foot and she hopped back to the corner of the room.

"So the three of you will go and I'll stay with Cat and André and Rob—"

"No, Robbie has to come with us because how else are we going to get there?"

"Right. The four of you, and the three of us. Sounds simple. Just please, try and be civil about it and not let your temper get the better of you, okay?" Beck said.

I felt my blood boiling. _As long as you're not there to watch my every move, of course I'll be fine. You're the only reason in turn into such a brat all the time anyway_. "I'll call Agency and see when Sikowitz can talk to us. Come on, kid." Tori followed me as I weaved my way towards André's office. I sat behind the oak desk, marveling at the feel of the smooth wood before picking up the chrome phone.

"What's the number, kid?"

"1-751-4325," she replied swiftly.

I repeated the numbers as I pressed them, finally bringing the receiver up to my ear and waiting for the two lines to connect.

"Name, please," an automated voice answered within three rings.

"Uh, Jade West."

"Location, please."

"Orlando, Florida."

"Please wait a moment while we check the files." I ran my tongue over my teeth impatiently. Tori was bouncing up and down on the leather couch, eventually getting up to look through André's impressive book collection on the wall behind her. "Jade West, lives on Eighteenth Street in Hawthorn Lake Apartments. Caliber type is Regenator, currently in a relationship with Beck Oliver, Trigger, also in the same residence."

_Whoa_.

"Yeah, that's me." I said, a little concerned at how much they knew.

"What can we do for you, Miss West?" this time, a real person's voice began talking to me.

"I want to talk to Sikowitz," I explained. "I've…found someone who was a victim of Archelaus's work. I was wondering if I could come in and request insurance to properly take care of them."

"If you'd like Miss West, we can simply send you a check."

"No, I'd like to meet personally, if that's okay."

"Of course. You are the reason that he's back in charge, anyway," the woman on the other end sounded genuinely happy and pleased to be talking to me. No one's ever acted like that around me. "Let's see…in two days, he's got an opening, four in the afternoon. We've currently made base in Texas, so will you have enough time to purchase a ticket, or…"

"I've got a friend who's a Dimensioner. If you have a picture, we'll be there in seconds."

"Sounds excellent, Miss West. I will give you the pictures via e-mail and then you'll be all set to go. We cannot wait to meet you in person. Thank you for calling. Good-bye."

The woman's parting words were in such a rush that it took me almost a minute after she had hung up to even figure out what she had said. _Two days. In two days, we can get Cat some proper, professional, and _legal _help. I think she'll be able to last that long_.

"What happened? Can we see Sikowitz?" Tori asked when she noticed I was off the phone.

"Uh-huh. In two days, we'll be heading to Texas. The lady on the other end said that she'll give us pictures of the place so Robbie will be able to bring us there."

"Yay!"

Walking back out to the main room, André and Robbie had returned, and the door on the far end leading to the back alley was open, the shadows of Beck and Cat dancing against the wall and indicating that they were doing something out there.

"Hey Jade, hey Tori."

"Did you get everything?" I asked the IQer.

"Uh-huh. So I just need to put it all together and it will be good to go!" André said, sitting down and pulling the smallest box towards him. "Did you guys get a hold of Agency?"

"We have a four o'clock meeting two days from now."

"Cool. Robbie's going to bring you?"

"Duh. I'm not wasting money on a plane ticket, nor will I spend time in airport security." I glanced at his tiny tool box and as he ripped open a bag of screws. "You're really going to build an _x-ray machine_?"

"Is there a problem with that?"

"No. I just can't really imagine you building an entire one within the next two days," I said.

"You haven't seen anything yet, Jade."

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

We returned to the apartment late at night. André kept asking for our help, but we ended being more of a hindrance and extremely unproductive. Tori, Trina and I played hot potato with the smaller boxes and André became annoyed enough to kick us out before we broke anything.

Beck stayed with Cat the majority of the time, talking and laughing with her, although the only way she could respond was with nods and shakes of her head. _I _was getting jealous, not that I had a reason to be. I wasn't even treating my boyfriend decently half the time; heck, Cat deserved him more than I did.

Tori and Trina went back to their own apartment, as did Robbie. I took a shower and got ready for bed while Beck hung around with Cat. I could hear the bellows of his laughter through the thin walls of the bathroom, the pang of envy in my heart growing.

I found them sitting in the kitchen, a deck of cards laid out in six different columns.

"Cat, do you want to take a shower?" Beck asked.

_No_, she shook her head.

"Do you want to take a shower at all?"

_No_.

"I can get you some of Tori's clothes, because I think mine are too big, if you want," I offered, and she looked content with the idea. Striding out the apartment to Tori's, and banged on the door and demanded some pants and a t-shirt. She retrieved my requested items and gave them to me.

"Here you go," I handed Cat the clothes. She went to change while I stayed in the living room with Beck.

"She can sleep on the couch and we'll leave our door open," he said.

I searched for some blankets as he pulled out the mattress and dressed up the worn piece of furniture. Cat returned, looking quite sleepy at this point, and when she saw the couch, she stared at it, almost like she was unsure of what to do with it.

"Here, Cat. You'll stay here until we can get you your own apartment or something. Beck and I will be in the bedroom and we'll leave the door open so you can come and get us if you need anything. You already know where the bathroom is and can help yourself to whatever you want in the fridge."

She stuck out her lip and sat down on the squeaky, dusty cot.

"I'll turn on the light in the kitchen if it makes you feel better," Beck said, observing the girl's discomfort. Then we headed into the bedroom. "Good night, Cat," he called out.

My boyfriend was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, and it made me wonder why he was so tired. I could hear Cat shifting and squirming restlessly in the living room, and, after covering my head with the blanket, fell right asleep.

I woke after what seemed like only two minutes of sleep. There was a figure prodding my shoulder that startled me because I couldn't identify who it was at first, but then I realized that it was Cat.

"What?"

She pointed to the doorway, tugging at my arm once more. Sighing, I got up and followed her. She sat down on her couch-bed, pulling the blankets to cover herself and then patting the area next to her.

Hesitantly, I lay down and she snuggled into my side, her fingers twisting into my shirt and pulling me close to her body. That was when I noticed that she was trembling, even though the room was quite warm.

"It's okay, Cat," I whispered in her ear, "I'm right here and will never leave you."

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

Beck almost had a heart attack when he woke up and couldn't find me in the bed with him. Then he found Cat tangled around me in the couch and stopped worrying. The girl refused to let go of me, even in deep and twitchy sleep, so I had to wait for almost another hour before being able to get up.

Afterwards, we took Cat to the nearest hairstylist to get her hair dyed her favorite red-velvet color. Some of her more lively personality came back when it was done, and she carried a new, happier expression, yet remained slack and conserved with her body actions.

I didn't even see Tori for the entire day. I hope she wouldn't mind not being able to go out and destroy some baddies. Cat was a priority at the moment.

André was working as much as a queen bee of her hive would. I'm pretty sure you needed to have a license or something to construct a machine with potential radiation exposure, but then again, this _was _André and he seemed to know how to get around any law…which wasn't always a good thing.

It was finished on the day we were supposed to be heading to Agency. Beck, André and Cat would remain in the lab and put her through to see a more complex diagram of her skeleton and the metal implants she supposedly had, while Tori, Trina, Robbie and I went to Agency. We would keep contact through cellphones.

"Have a good trip and try not to upset anyone," Beck said while we were preparing.

"Take good care of Cat, then."

"You know it."

I backed up to stand next to Tori, putting my hand gingerly on her shoulder.

"Everyone ready?" Robbie called out. "This is my first time dimensioning three other people, so hopefully all body parts will remain in place," he added, chuckling. _Yeah, Shapiro, don't screw up _

"Just do it."

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

Cat's POV

I watched with a sting of jealousy as the four disappeared in the cloud of smoke, aweing at how amazing Robbie's power was. If I didn't have the burden of being a Predicter, a Dimensioner would be the top on the top of my list.

"Cat, let's get you up into here, okay?" André called.

Beck took my hand and led me over to the large tray that would slide into the tube of the massive x-ray machine. André really managed to build this in the course of two days? He must be really gifted.

I removed any clothes that had external metal on them before hopping on, lying on my back and looking up at the ceiling. A strange feeling in my stomach started stirring; it was the same one I got every time Dr. Brewer had me down on an experimenting table.

"Stay calm and cool, Cat. This isn't going to hurt you one bit." Beck looked down into my eyes. Keeping my teeth clamped together, I nodded, trying to keep my panic under control.

_It's not going to hurt me—it's going to kill me when you find out what's wrong_.

* * *

**Yay! There's your update for the week. Next chapter is where it all starts. I promise.**

**I now need to go work on my ten-minute long presentation with my five person group...which is due tomorrow and naturally, we haven't done a single thing yet! If it takes a while for me to reply to the reviews and stuff, there's my excuse right there. Haha.**

**Anyway, see you next week! (I'm getting a beta for the next chapter and possibly the rest of the story. :D)**


	10. Thief

**This is one day late! :O Sorry, guys. I had a huge group history project which involved making a video, and if any of you know from experience, those can take a really long time. :|**

**WE ARE MAKING PROGRESS IN THIS CHAPTER. Yay! Remember, this story was inspired by themes from _Push__, X-Men Last Stand _and _Jurassic Park_, so maybe a few of you can put together some pieces, maybe?**

**One hundred hugs to: JessyRae, BelletheWickedWitch, gymnastgirl26 and Azkadellio. :D**

* * *

CHAPTER 10  
Tori's POV

I staggered around, lightheaded and confused when we landed on the heavy slab of concrete. Trina was rubbing at her face, while Robbie, naturally, was standing perfectly upright and looking pleased that he had gotten us all here in one piece. Jade was next to him, throwing her arms out to keep her balance.

The air was hot, and we were waiting in front of a very fancy hotel-look-alike building that must've been at least forty stories high. Was this the Agency head base? It seemed like a nice update, but weird to see that they were seemingly planted in the public eye.

"Is this it?" Trina asked.

"Think so," Jade responded. "Let's just go inside and see what's up."

We followed our leader as she opened up the doors of the structure. A blast of air-conditioned wind and the sight of freshly polished floors, a shiny ceiling and dangling chandeliers greeted us. A long line was leading up to the front desk, but Jade didn't seem to be bothered by it at all. It appeared like an invisible force was calling her to as she suddenly turned to the right, approaching a black door that was almost concealed in the shadows of two walls and a short, empty hall.

Jade was the only one who even made a move, and we watched curiously as she pulled on the golden handle and then disappeared inside. I stayed frozen to the spot, unsure if we were to follow or not. Just then, her head popped out, and she motioned us over, looking annoyed.

"What are you people waiting for?"

"Are you sure that's the right way to go?"

"What does that say?" she jabbed up at the center of the door, and as I got closer I noticed the shiny yellow numbers engraved onto the smooth wood, which read '_17514325 21195_.'

"'Agency Base,'" Robbie deciphered quickly, substituting the combination of numbers with a letter. "That's very clever. Do you suppose only calibers can see it, or maybe normal people would just think that this is an employee room?"

"Probably, I'm don't really know. Just get in here please."

Glancing around warily, none of the other patrons seem to even notice that we were here. Following Jade's order, we crowded through the door and Robbie closed it behind him, leaving us cramped in a tiny room that barely had any breathing space.

"Now what?" my sister growled at Jade.

"Hold your horses. Why does no one have any patience nowadays?"

"State your names, caliber types and reason for being here," a male voice boomed out of nowhere.

I was startled into silence by it, so naturally, Jade answered. "Jade West, Regenator, hear to speak with Erwin Sikowitz, along with Robbie Shapiro, Dimensioner, Trina Vega, Hypnoser, and Tori Vega, Kinecter."

"Proceed forward."

A door on the opposite side of the one we had just entered opened up, a light shining through, a relief in our current darkness. Jade pushed Robbie forward, and the boy awkwardly left the packed room first.

"Welcome." A woman dressed in causal attire appeared suddenly in the middle of the hallway we had been walking through, as if she had dropped down from the ceiling. "My name is Maggie and I'll be your tour guide for the day. We're very glad you made it our current Agency head base. I assume you had a nice trip here, and were able to find the entrance easily?"

"Uh-huh," I muttered.

"And you're the four o'clock meeting with Sikowitz?"

"You got that right."

"Follow me, please, and try not to touch anything. I'll take you down to his office. We are underneath the entire hotel you just entered, so I hope you don't mind getting too claustrophobic."

The lights began to grown brighter as we made our way through the base. The walls appeared to have been built of solid concrete, and I wondered how in the world they had gotten cement trucks to build all of this, right under a fully functioning hotel.

We passed by a halls with doors crowded on either side, each of them bearing a golden nameplate with a worker's initials on them. Maggie took us through a few of them until one ended in a small waiting room with comfortable-looking chairs lined up against the walls and a coffee table heavily-laden with magazines and newspapers from the caliber world.

"Sikowitz's office is right behind that door, and he'll be with you when he's ready." Maggie started walking off when a sudden idea hit my brain. Glancing over at the rest of the gang, who were settling themselves into the chairs with contented sighs, I explained in a jumble of words that I had to use the bathroom and sprinted off.

"Don't take too long!" Trina called after me.

"Um, excuse me! Maggie!" I practically shouted. The lady stopped and turned around, noticing me and giving me a friendly smile. "I was wondering if I could ask you a question," I explained, turning around and making sure no one was near us, "now that my friends aren't here to bother me about it."

"What's up, Miss?"

"I was wondering about the program for volunteering yourself for the drug," I said.

"Oh. How old are you, Miss?"

"Seventeen."

"Ah, well, maybe next year, dear. The required age is eighteen." Maggie started walking away but stopped in mid-step, turning back around. "But you only asked about the program; that's right. Why don't you follow me and I can show you how it's done?" I bounded after her as we began the tour. "Once a volunteer has signed their forms and are deemed able to work for the program, they are sent to our labs, which are located on a remote island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean."

"An island?" I repeated, curious to learn more.

"Yes. All of the research and data are stored there, as it is private and away from the public eye. Plus, it's easier to guard when we can manage the boats that deliver supplies and our volunteers. Ah, here we are." We had arrived at a black door. "I'll give you an example of what I was talking about," Maggie finished, winking.

Upon entering, I found the room to be poorly lit, so it was difficult to make out its exact features. But otherwise, it was a sizable area, filled with one large machine, shaped like a circle with a flat top about two feet high, right in the middle. Maggie went over to some shelves and unlocked a metal toolbox, pulling out a green USB drive.

She approached the odd machine, inserting the device into a secret side port, and suddenly, the mechanism lit up, its flat surface turning into a grid, and a 3D model of an island popped up, floating in the darkness and rotating slowly. The structure of its landscape was incredibly detailed, with small slopes of mountains, trees dotting the rocky ground in clusters of forests, and a large building right in its middle.

"This is only a rough diagram, unfortunately, but it's better than nothing," Maggie beamed when she saw me gaping in awe. "As you can see, most of it is currently desolate and unoccupied, but we hope to expand in the future when we gain more and more volunteers.

"There are only two docks, both of which are heavily guarded, which are the only entrances on the entire island. To keep everything else out, fences along the border and other crazy contraptions have been put up to discourage break-ins."

"So where in the Pacific is this located?"

"That's unreleased information, for security purposes," Maggie replied apologetically. "But after volunteers arrive, they are sent to the lab in the middle, and simply donate parts of their DNA for research value. You're welcome to look as long as you like. If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask."

Maggie began circling the hologram, as did I. I needed to figure the exact location. It was a key element in my strategy of getting this program to stop. But with other people in the room, that would be impossible. I couldn't just pull the USB out of its port without Maggie noticing. And even if I did, she would know it was me.

As if by pure chance, Maggie announced, "If you'll excuse me for a few moments, I need to step out for a bit. I'll be back." When the door was closed behind her, I hurried over to the shelf with the toolbox, hooking my fingers under the latch and trying to open it. No such luck. It was locked.

Instead, I put my hand over the bolt, concentrating and using my powers to snap it open, since manually doing it would probably break my fingers and even still fail to work. With a rusty pop, the box opened, and I peered in eagerly, making out the figures of a colorful assortment of USB drives.

They were color-coded as red, yellow, and blue, but there were no more green ones. Not knowing what the difference between them was, as they were all the same shape and size otherwise, my conscious came back and I didn't know if I should still take one. Just then, Maggie walked in, this time with a family of four trailing behind her.

She acted oblivious to my presence as she began explaining the story of the island to the new people. I faced them, watching with wary eyes in the darkness and putting my hands behind my back. Picturing a red USB in my mind, I very slowly and carefully lifted one out of the box and dropped it into my open palms. Slipping it into my back pocket, I shut the top with my powers, coughing to hide the noise of the lock clicking close.

Muttering my thanks to Maggie, she nodded in acknowledgement and I left, wiping the sweat off my face and feeling the bubble of excitement in my chest ready to burst.

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

"There you are, Tori!" Trina exclaimed when I had finally found my way back to the waiting room. I'm not quite sure had long it had taken me to find it through the labyrinth of doors, halls, and other open rooms, but judging from the upset look on her face I had spent a good amount of time doing so. "What the heck were you doing?"

"I got lost," I said truthfully. She snatched my hand and dragged me into Sikowitz's office. Jade and Robbie were already seated in front of the large oak desk, heads turned around expectantly as I entered. The balding man was smiling, a little creepily, as I took a seat. Slinking down and shoving my hands under my butt to make sure the USB was still there, I smiled too. _Mission accomplished_.

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

Cat's POV

Beck reached over and took my hand, squeezing it gently before André pressed a button and the tray slid into the machine. It was very dark, but I forced myself to keep my eyes open, knowing that closing them would do nothing to help the situation.

Without warning, the panels above and next to me came to life in the tube, making me squeeze my eyes shut. There were six of them, spread out in a semi-circle, each of them as long as the machine. At what seemed to me like random times, a pair of panels would light up, then dim down just as another two would start flashing. I resisted the urge to shield my face, knowing that it would screw up the process of the x-ray taking and then I'd have to start all over.

The thunder of my heart sounded like it was echoing, but it was probably just my imagination. I was not comfortable with this at all. It reminded me of being in the water tank and Dr. Brewer ripping me open and putting all of his latest inventions inside my body. I wanted Beck right now. So far, out of everyone I'd met, he was the one who seemed to understand me the most. He had lived with Archelaus. He knew what it was like. Well, kind of.

It was nearly impossible for me to let everyone know what was wrong, what had happened, what was _going _to happen.

I was a Predicter, after all. As much as I didn't want to see the terrible future in store for them, I had no choice.

But if I couldn't let them know what was wrong, then they wouldn't be able to fix any of it.

And that would be the same thing as watching them all die.

* * *

**Anyone have any ideas on why Tori stole the USB?**

**Next chapter you get to find out the biggest part of Cat's secret past and also the gang gets to talk with Sikowitz!**

**Previews will be available for those to review. Plus I will answer your questions and more! :D**


	11. Attitude Issues

**IT'S FINALS WEEK. I should be studying, but I'm stressing out so much that I made myself sick so I need to take a break. My English final is in two days. Please wish me luck. I am going to fail it so hard. :(**

**Warning: This chapter contains content that may be disturbing to some readers.**

**Thanks to the reviewers: BelletheWickedWitch, JessyRae, gymnastgirl26, amal-rukia, and Azkadellio. **

* * *

CHAPTER 11  
Cat's POV

_Dr. Brewer kept a tight grip around the tops of my arms, keeping me from falling flat on my face. But it wasn't my fault. The most recent experiment had left me in a complete and total mess. I couldn't even hold up my body since my spine had been so badly affected; they claimed that it was just a side effect and would go away within therapy and time. Their version of 'therapy' was my version of torture, unfortunately. _

_ "Let her go," Archelaus's voice boomed loudly._

_ As soon as the doc had released me, I slumped to the floor, almost smashing my face against the concrete. My arms refused to cooperate to support my body, almost like they were made of jelly and my body of lead. It was a terrible mix, and I was trying my hardest to stay up. Not wanting to assume anything, but it was safe to say that they would hurt me even more if I didn't follow their instructions, if that was even possible at this point. _

_ "Why can't you get her to stand on her own?" Archelaus practically whined._

_ "Sir, this is the first time she is fully conscious since the procedure was finished. I'm not one to be overly compassionate, but I think you should give her at least a few minutes. It was not easy getting the wire in her spine, and I doubt it'll be easy to recover from."_

_ This was the first time I'd heard the evil and much-hated Dr. Brewer speak with that tone of voice. It was soft, and possibly even kind. My heart sunk, the terror bubbling in my mind. Knowing that this man might actually have a heart, and yet he was still capable of doing horrific, unspeakable acts to innocent people. _

_ "Since when you have cared about a patient's discomfort?"_

_ Dr. Brewer grunted, not having a proper response. To my horror he followed through, bringing my hands behind my back and yanking me up. My knees locked and legs remained straight, but even when he released me I collapsed like before, tears in my eyes. I couldn't handle this. It was too much. No matter how hard I tried, no matter how much I wanted, my happiness would never return. Weak and sluggish, my mind filled with watery thoughts, I only barely managed to hear the exchange between the two men who had turned my world upside-down._

_ "Please leave, Doctor, and don't come back until I say so," Archelaus grumbled. Dr. Brewer gave a little bow, hurrying off as fast as his stocky legs could carry him. Archelaus knelt by my head gingerly. "You aren't so tough now, are you, Miss Valentine?" he taunted. "That's no problem. I think now is the perfect time to try out that chip of yours."_

_He held a small, rectangular device that looked like a remote control with one big, fat red button in the middle of its flat side. His thumb hovered over it lingeringly, finally setting down and pushing on the knob._

Wait…what is that going to do_?_

_ There was a horrible pain that ran up my entire spine, like someone was pressing a piece of blazing hot iron against my skin. My head snapped back in an automatic response, my fingers twitching as I struggled to reach the back of my neck. Saliva dripped from my lips but I couldn't wipe it away because my limbs were being shocked out of control by the electricity. _

_ "Can you feel that, Cat?" Archelaus said. "Just think, every time you're in a happy mood, the chemicals in your brain are going to give off the signal to zap the crap out of you until you are no longer cheerful." He laughed, amused by the sick idea. "So no more fantasies of yours in which I die, because I know how excited you get over those."_

He's going to kill me_, I thought desperately. The room smelled like something was burning; it took me a while to figure out that it was myself. Spasming like a fish out of water, my muscles seizing and unclenching themselves, I struggled to reach out for the remote that he had left inches away._

_ I was seconds away from blacking out completely when the electricity stopped. Still shaking from having been under its influence for so long, I turned to my side, letting the blood trickle from my mouth where I had bit into my gums and tongue. _Please don't hurt me anymore_…_

_ "We cut off your communication too," Archelaus went on, in horrifically accurate detail. "You've got the clips on your vocal cords and the chip and wire in spine that's connected to your brain. Anything that is deemed 'inappropriate' by the system will set off the electricity. You won't be able to write…or talk…communicate with body motions…" The list went on for what seemed forever. I became unfocused on him, struggling to drift off to a happier place._

_ He interrupted, "I'm not scared of you anymore, Cat."_

Why would you be in the first place_? I thought. _What did I ever do? I would never hurt a fly. _He _knew that_._

_ I never had a chance to respond._

_ The last thing I saw was his boot stomping down on my head._

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

Tori's POV

"It is so very nice to see you again, Jade," Sikowitz greeted warmly as I was sitting down. "And you brought your friends. The ones, I presume, that also assisted in your rescue when you were out on the cliff?"

"Correct," Jade answered, her tone opposite of his.

"What can I do for you all?"

"There's this girl we found a few days ago." Jade rocked forward in her chair uneasily. "She's one of my best friends from six years ago, but was taken by Archelaus and supposedly experimented on until she 'died.'"

"So then she is alive? What's her name?" Sikowitz turned to his iPear computer.

"Yes. She's Cat Valentine, a Predicter."

Sikowitz tapped on his computer a few times before he paused, his eyes darting around the screen. "A file on Miss Valentine was found in the labs, indeed saying she had been 'terminated,' but nothing more. How did she get to you, all the way from California? I mean, you do still reside in Orlando, right?"

"That's why were here, Sikowitz. Cat hasn't said a word besides 'Predicter.' One of my other friends, an IQer conducted a quick exam and discovered that she has quite a few metal implants inside of her."

"I wouldn't have the answers to that, I'm afraid. But I hope she is doing well otherwise."

"Yeah…no not really," Jade replied dryly.

"Then what would you like my help with?"

"Any suggestions of _caliber _doctors would be nice, since ours isn't really legal."

"Is that it? I'm sure I could comply with anything else you might have; I'll be sure to e-mail you the names ASAP. Would you like some funds as well—" Sikowitz was cut off by the sound of an old-fashioned phone ringing loudly. He reached over his desk to grab ringing receiver and brought it up to his ear. "One moment, please." Sikowitz nodded and I could hear a faint woman's voice in the background, talking very quickly. Jade looked annoyed, while Robbie was practically falling asleep and Trina was examining her nails with extreme interest.

"Uh-huh…mhmm…yes. That is okay. Yes I'm serious. All right. Good-bye." Sikowitz hung up quickly. "You said you wanted a check? Here." He produced a leather checkbook from the pocket of his striped sweater, opening it and beginning to scribble. He tore the rectangular piece of paper out, handing it to Jade. "Now if that's everything you need, then I'm afraid I need to be going immediately." Sikowitz stood up abruptly, spinning to take the jacket off the back o his chair and shrugging it on.

"Are you going to take care of the drug?" Jade asked suddenly, like she had managed to hear both sides of the conversation.

"I don't know what you quite mean by that." Sikowitz wore a look of nervousness.

"Whoever called. They need you to look something over with the drug, right?"

"If you want to talk to me about that, you'll need to make a new appointment, Jade. I'm very busy—"

Jade cut him off. "Why are you doing it? What gives you the right to do this?"

"The choices I make are ones that we calibers can benefit from," he replied, standing his ground.

"_Benefit_? How in the world are we going to _benefit _from that drug?" If we had been in a cartoon, Jade's head would've burst into a mushroom cloud explosion. "You ask me, both sides are going to be hindered by this."

"First, we no longer need to hide our identities and existences in general if everyone is educated and the 'same.' There will be no dangers of one race becoming more powerful than the other, so a problem like Archelaus won't be nearly as bad."

"Even if you make everyone 'equal,' you're still going to have individuals that are stronger and better. It happens in every society, no matter what. Unless you turn us into robots, that goal of world peace is pretty much impossible."

"So you'd rather me produce a drug in which our powers are taken away from us?"

"Isn't that how it always goes?"

Robbie tapped my left knee and I glanced up at him. He was watching Jade awkwardly, cringing every time she made a harsh point towards Sikowitz. They were now viciously arguing about if it would've been better to create a drug to take away caliber powers, rather than give them out. I was surprised that there was no visible security in this room, not that Jade would ever dare physically attack Sikowitz.

"You know, you wouldn't even _be _here if it weren't for me," Jade shouted, standing up to face Sikowitz; she was nearly as tall as him but look three times more menacing. Trina and Robbie stood at the same time, giving Jade a warning glance. "I didn't kill Archelaus so you could become in charge again and possibly start a war with a stupid drug."

Sikowitz smacked his lips together. "Please understand, Jade. Archelaus was a huge threat because of the problems he posed for the humans. Once the Nicron is perfected and administered to all of them, we won't have to worry about that problem anymore."

_No, but everything is going to get worse_, I thought. The humans may be turning into calibers, but they would still have the same mindsets as they were when they were still homeo sapiens, and everyone knew that they were crazy and jealous about us having superpowers when they didn't. Sikowitz needed to think through his plan better.

Jade was on the same page as me, apparently.

She burst into a fury of words and curses, saying that Sikowitz was terribly wrong and he was going to start world wars. The man stood there silently and I saw his left arm shifting to touch the side of his desk.

Two large men entered the room and wrestled Jade to the floor. Trina forced her way through them, grabbing onto her shoulder and tugging her from the mess. Robbie pushed me towards the door in almost a protective way, while Sikowitz stood and waited.

"Calm down, boys. She poses no physical threat to me," Sikowitz said as the men brushed off their pants, glaring suspiciously at Jade, who was struggling to get out of Trina's headlock. "You may leave now. _All _of you."

Trina dragged Jade out of the room behind the men and Robbie followed behind them. I shuffled away as well, when Sikowitz called out to me.

"Tori?"

"Hmm?" I turned around; Robbie halted in the doorway.

Sikowitz's face was a mix of emotions, and he finally said, "Don't do it," enunciating each syllable.

I tried to act confused while my face turned as red as a tomato. "I…I don't know what you're talking about, sir."

He shook his head. "Please. It's not safe."

_Does he know that I stole the USB_? Robbie was absolutely baffled by our conversation to the point where he was tilting his head to the side like he was trying to decipher the picture in front of him and not a conversation.

Very slowly and discreetly, Sikowitz moved his hand and patted his thigh, sliding it to the side and touching his back pocket.

He knew.

"It was nice meeting you again sir," I mumbled, changing the subject quickly and spinning on my heel. "Make sure you don't do anything stupid either, sir." My words even surprised myself as I left the room with Robbie.

"What was that about?" Robbie asked.

"No idea," I lied.

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

Trina had Jade in a hypnotized state in the waiting room, her blue eyes glassy and she was drooling for some reason. Robbie brought us back to our Florida apartment. Jade started following Trina around, her nose inches away from my sister's shoulder.

"What did you do to her?" I asked, amused.

Trina shrugged. "Eh, I just shut her up and put her in a more 'calm' state."

"She's gonna be _angrryy_ when she wakes up," Robbie commented, sitting down on my couch.

"Let's find out."

"No wait—"

Jade jumped back from Trina, startled. She blinked and wiped at her mouth, looking down at her hand and finding it covered with a smear of dried saliva. Then she glanced over at Trina, rage washing through her previous tranquil features.

"What did you do to me? How did we get here?" she roared.

Scared for my sister, I jumped in between them, grabbing Jade's arms and pushing her away from Trina. But Jade ignored me, tossing me onto the couch without a single thought.

"You have some serious attitude issues," Trina said as Jade advanced on her. "And the fact that you said we weren't even going to ask Sikowitz about the drug when you ended up doing just that. You little hypocrite."

Robbie was sitting next to me, full forward and enjoying the show.

"Dude!" I hissed, struggling to stand. "Help me before they kill each other!"

"No, I'd rather just watch."

_Coward_, I thought. Trina was right up in Jade's face, shouting very loudly. Jade pushed Trina away and my sister collided with the kitchen table, the tiny object buckling under her weight.

"Oh, great," I muttered when Trina rose, red-faced and upset.

"Okay. Bring it on, West."

"I'd be glad to."

And they both charged towards each other like wild animals.

* * *

**Now we know what's wrong with Cat! And don't worry. Trina and Jade probably won't _kill _each other. **

**Please keep the victims and families of the Sandy Hook shooting in your thoughts and prayers. No parent should ever have to bury their child.**

**See everyone soon. Stay safe, guys.**


	12. Complicated Answers

**Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays everyone! :) **

**So...the good news is that I actually managed to get an 85 on my English final! I thought I was going to get an F, but it looks like I'm not as terrible as a writer after all. :D**

**Hugs to: JessyRae, BelletheWickedWitch, musiKSoul1388, amal-rukia, and gymnastgirl26. **

* * *

CHAPTER 12  
Beck's POV

I was a little worried for Cat as she entered the machine. She seemed terrified, not that I could blame her, and I promised that it would be over quickly. Once she had disappeared from view and the door slid closed behind her, André led me over to the side of the machine that was facing the wall; there was a blank screen running the length of the x-ray contraption, and a tiny keyboard set in front of it.

"Her skeleton is going to appear here, and I'll also send the results to the main computer to blow them up for further examination." I was wedged uncomfortably next to him, and he tapped on a few keys.

There was a strange hum that came from inside of the machine, and a line rolled across the screen, behind it appearing the full bone structure of Cat Valentine. After a few more seconds, different parts of her body started lighting up, and finally two circular discs were displayed to be sitting in her eye sockets and a single piece of metal near the base of where her brain would be.

"Um…" was all André could say.

I couldn't drag my eyes away as specific bones began to become highlighted and then exposing the implants. Two clothespin-like clips were sitting in her throat and in the area where her skull and spine connected was a fat, square chip. But what really caught my eye was what was protruding from the tiny device.

A long string of wires went down her entire spine, looped and threaded through each of the vertebrae in a sickly tangled manner. Turning towards André slowly, he seemed to be having similar thoughts.

"That does explain a lot," he said.

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

Suddenly, there was a hefty bang as a door slammed against a wall. I popped my head around the x-ray machine and saw four people stomping into the room. Trina had a bounce in her step, looking incredibly pleased and smug for some reason. Robbie came next, ducking his head to hide a smile. Then Tori and Jade appeared. Tori was holding a large wad of blood-stained tissues to her nose and Jade looked very sad behind her.

"What happened?" I called out.

Trina then started snickering into her elbow, and Robbie coughed. Tori sat down on the floor and held a hand up to Jade. Digging in her pocket, my girlfriend produced a handful of crumpled Kleenex, giving a few to the younger girl, who replaced the dripping papers with the fresh ones.

"I thought you guys were just going to Agency," I stated.

"We did," Trina answered.

"Then why—"

"When we got back, I had hypnotized Jade to stop arguing with Sikowitz at the base, and when she finally snapped out of it, she got _really _angry at me and tried to attack me. But Tori got in the way and Jade punched her in the face." I heard Tori huff in agreement and Jade ran her tongue across her lip, embarrassed. "And here we are."

"Well, what made Jade argue with Sikowitz? Weren't you just going to ask for some help with Cat?"

"She asked about the drug."

Feeling curious and almost annoyed, I pressed, "Jade, you said that you were going to leave that issue alone. You wanted it to 'resolve' itself."

"I do," she confirmed.

Suddenly, there was a hissing noise. All of us looked over at the x-ray machine. The tray was beginning to slide out and Cat's head appeared. André helped her sit up and she rocked back, rubbing her hands all over her face before she noticed the rest of us.

"That wasn't so bad, was it, Cat?" André said, gently patting the girl's knee. Cat shrugged, puffing out her lip and motioning for me to come over. She slid into my arms and rested her face against my chest. Jade blinked, otherwise making no sign that she was jealous.

"Hey everyone, the skeleton will be up on the main screen," André announced. Tori scrambled to stand and we all moved over to the large computer monitor. Within a few seconds, the appalling picture I had seen on the machine appeared.

"Is that for real?" Trina questioned in disbelief, taking note of the five different metal inserts.

"Sadly."

"Do you…do you think you can get it out of her?" Jade stumbled across her words.

"Um, that's currently the biggest problem. I certainly won't be able to, at least with the supplies I can get my hands on. Even besides that I believe either way it will be virtually impossible. It's in very dangerous areas to perform surgeries on," André reeled, the information spewing from his mouth.

"How did Archelaus put them in her in the first place?"

Cat whimpered loud enough for everyone to hear and she clawed at my back in agitation. Robbie frowned at Jade, as did Trina and Tori.

"Erm, sorry," Jade spluttered. "Sikowitz did say he was going to e-mail me names of professional caliber doctors who could help us out, as well as any necessary funds." She shifted back and forth on her feet.

"Hold on. I need to check something," André said.

"You do that."

Jade turned to Tori, "Are you okay now, kid?"

Tori managed a weak laugh. "Yeah, I think so."

"Good."

André minimized the x-ray, opening a new internet browser and beginning to type at an incredibly fast pace. I caught site of the words 'chip' and 'effects of electricity,' as well as several others I had never seen before in my life and had to assume that they were part of André's extremely scientific vocabulary.

Some thousand results came up; André clicked on different ones experimentally. Cat was breathing very heavily into my shirt and my hands were clasped tightly around her waist. Trina was leaning against Robbie comfortably while Tori had fully removed the tissues from her face: her nose was a darker shade compared to the rest of her complexion, and dried blood dotted her philtrum.

"Cat," André began, "does the chip, by chance, electrocute you when you try and say certain words or use a specific motion?" Cat nodded furiously, pulling out of my arms to approach his side. "Yes? Okay. So…every time you try and say something that isn't 'Predicter,' you get a shock from the inside, is that right?" She nodded again. "Uh, hold on."

Reaching across the tiny spread desk, he picked up an open pen and a piece of scratch paper. "Write something," he said, offering her the two objects. Cat refused, shaking her head, brown eyes widening with fright.

"Do you not remember how to hold a pencil?" André persisted, almost aggressively. Jade and I tensed up simultaneously; what in the world was this IQer doing? I'm sure I had talked to him before about treating Cat like a small child. "You just put it in your hand like this—" André snatched up hers, forcing the pencil between her fingers in an awkward grip.

"Careful, André," Trina warned from her position behind us.

Cat was struggling wildly to pull away, her face covered in fear as she looked to me and Jade for help. André started dragging her hand towards the piece of paper, holding it above the white surface dauntingly. Cat squealed, slouching backwards with all her weight to fight against him. That was when Jade had had enough and pushed her way between them.

"Stop that," Jade growled.

"Interesting…very interesting," André hummed as if nothing had just happened. Teary-eyed and trembling violently, the small redhead hugged onto Jade, refusing to get any closer to André after what he had did.

"Are you gonna tell us what the heck that was all about?" I snapped, upset that he had hurt Cat.

"Of course. You saw her reaction to what I did. Miss Valentine does actually know how to write, doesn't she?" André was beginning to sound like some sort of creepy, crazy psychotic doctor. "But why does she not want to write anything for me?"

Too stunned to answer, André continued, "It's just like I suspected. The wires and chip combined are what keep her silent and unable to communicate in a different way, such as writing. If she were to try doing any of the above, the chip from the inside will electrocute her body until she stops. Isn't that right, Cat?"

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

"What about the metal things in her head? Do you know what they do?" I asked, stepping forward and squeezing Cat's shoulder lightly.

"Not yet. I'll figure it out soon. But this is a start, and I already have an idea." André was on a roll today. Cat tugged on Jade's arm and pointed at Tori, whispering the word, "Predicter."

"No. Kin-ec-ter," Jade corrected, drawing out the word in hopes the girl would understand that she was incorrectly labeling Tori's caliber type. Stubbornly, she shook her head and repeated the word over and over.

"The idea, André?" Robbie interrupted, eager to know what could possibly save Cat's life.

"I'll make another chip. Except this one won't go inside of her. I'll program it similar to a transmitter and it will be able to block the electric currents Cat's chips is giving off. That way, it will in a sense, 'stop' electrocuting her completely and then she will have free control of her body again."

Cat closed her mouth to nod slightly at André's plan in agreement.

"Now that we're all satisfied, let me get cracking on that." André slid his chair to a smaller computer screen, surfing the web for tiny computer parts he would need.

"Can I check my e-mail?" Jade asked. André simply nodded and my girlfriend stood, Cat following closely behind. Jade sat at the main monitor and quickly opened her e-mail site, entering her account information to gain access. There were no new messages. "Darn that sucker. Nothing from him yet. So basically that entire trip was a complete waste."

"Not entirely," Tori spoke up.

"What are you talking about, kid?" Jade said.

"We learned something about the Nicron."

"We learned _nothing _about the drug," Jade countered.

"I did, at least." Tori shoved her hands deep into her back pockets, shifting around before bringing them in front of her to reveal a small red USB drive in one of them. "The drug, called Nicron, is currently being experimented with on an island in the Pacific Ocean. Volunteers of the program are sent there to be researched on."

"Well aren't you little Miss Know-It-All," I commented.

"It's true. I didn't really go the bathroom. I caught up with that tour guide, Maggie, and asked her a few questions. She brought me to this special room where they had a 3D diagram of the island and told me everything I just told you, except it's exact location. When she was gone I stole this; I think the diagram of the island might be on it."

André was now completely distracted with Tori's enthralling story and had come over, holding out his hands. He retreated to the computer, pushing Jade off the seat and sitting down himself before inserting the USB into a slot in the side tower.

A small black screen popped up and André opened the only file located on the drive. It was written in a word document that contained one page that was completely blank except for the top two lines, which held a set of readings made up of numbers and letters.

"That's not an island," Trina pointed out unnecessarily.

"No they're not…my god…" André said, his eyes growing wide. "Those are the latitude and longitude coordinates of the island."

* * *

**Ah! A cliffy! Haven't seen one of those in a while. **

**Now the story is really kicking in. Once again, happy holidays to everyone! Hope this was a nice present for you all. :)**


	13. Agency Island

**I'm back! I hope every one had a nice holiday. I did. :)**

**This chapter took me forever because being on winter break makes me extremely unproductive, and then there were lots of problems re-writing it. :| But now I'm done, and pretty satisfied with the way it turned out, so I hope everyone thinks the same!**

**Shout-out to: JessyRae, amal-rukia, BeautyAsAWickedWitch, and janellie04. :) **

* * *

CHAPTER 13  
Cat's POV

The next ten minutes happened the exact same way I had seen it happen three years ago in my visions. André hopped on to several different browsers to find actual pictures of the island Tori was babbling about. Jade and Trina started questioning her for stealing the information, but Tori went on a different subject of a 'plan' she wanted to commit upon visiting the island.

I sat behind Beck throughout the entire ordeal, my fingers knotting in his shirt. This shouldn't be happening. I was scared. For everyone. As the talking continued, it became evident that they were all agreeing with Miss Tori's plan, on Trina's condition that she re-take senior year of high school. The conclusion was come to: three days from now, five of them (Jade, Beck, Tori, Trina and Robbie) would visit the island, find the main facility, and get a glimpse of what was happening there in hopes that they could also stop it at the same time.

I knew from my visions of what was going to happen to them once they arrived there. Even though everything I predicted so far had come, I wished I could have the doubt of knowing that I might be wrong. It was horrible, knowing what disgusting and violent things were about to happen to my friends, and the fact that I could prevent it, if only I could communicate with them.

They wouldn't listen to my warnings. They probably didn't even know I knew and still had my visions. Every hint I dropped was immediately dismissed, not even suspected to be something of any importance. I had to get their attention and understanding, and I had to get it soon.

I had three days.

Would it be possible to turn things around before the inevitable happened?

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

Jade woke me up the next morning, frantically looking around for Beck. The living room and kitchen lights were turned off, so when Jade went behind the counter and bent over, she was surprised and immediately jumped back in alarm just as Beck himself popped up, balancing a large, rectangular object in his hands. "Happy birthday, Cat!" he shouted. I then noticed the intricate design drawn on the rectangle with letters set in the pattern of 'Happy 24th Birthday Cat' with two candles pushed in below it.

The cake was set down on the table carefully and Beck came over to hug me. My arms were slung around his neck almost carelessly and I buried my face in his insane hair. He smelled like hair gel, shampoo, and for some odd reason, cookies. Out of the corner of my eye, Jade was standing a few feet away, arms crossed and cheeks sucked in, making her look like a fish. She didn't budge an inch from that position until Beck and I broke apart, and she finally said, "Er, happy birthday, Cat. When did you get that cake, Beck?"

"Earlier." He produced a matchbox from his pocket, picked up a match and struck the red end, a flame glowing in its place as he brought it close to the wicks of the candles. They glowed dimly in the dark room, producing a sort of eerie yet romantic setting. Then he and Jade both sang 'Happy Birthday' in the most awkward harmony. I blew out the little fires, watching the wisps of smoke float off in the air and the funny, sulfuric smell burning my nose. Beck took a knife and cut it into large chunks, handing me the biggest piece. It was very delicious, and briefly took my mind off the horrors that were soon to come.

Upon finishing my slice, I reached over the table, tugging on Jade's arm. She glanced up, leaning towards me expectantly, the silver necklace hanging low from her neck and its tags clanging against the wooden surface. Touching the one engraved with Tori's name, I whispered in a low voice, "Predicter."

Jade shook her head uneasily, pulling away from my hand. I sighed, slouching back in my own seat. Beck offered more of the cake, but I declined. Jade was refusing to look at me again, her hands in her lap, and I had the sense that I upset her in some way. Another half hour passed before Beck announced that he was going to take me back to California (with Robbie's help) for a short trip and ride by the beaches we had grown up with. Jade volunteered to stay behind.

"Suit yourself. Come on, Cat," he said, opening up the door.

I gave Jade a fleeting glance. Her electric blue eyes locked onto mine. They were filled with rage, jealousy, and confusion. Nodding a good-bye, I bounded outside, nervously trying to erase the image from my mind and enjoy the time I had with Beck.

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

Today was the day. The seven of us were gathered in André's lab. The five who were going were dressed appropriately for work and if necessary, engaging in combat. The plan had been finalized. Robbie would dimension them one hundred feet from the shore of the island in the ocean; that would help them avoid the security easier. Then they would find their way to the closest pier (according to Tori, there were two, and the only way to enter the island) and hide underneath it until they had dried out and were ready for the next step. They would split into two groups, get around the fences and secuirty, and make their way to the main facility. André would remain here with me to work on the transmitter, and keep an eye on their body stats through the microchips he had inserted into them.

"Is everyone ready?" Robbie called out as the five formed a line on either side of him, holding onto one another. My eyes zoned in on Tori, who was standing next to Trina and Jade. I had to act now. "Okay, here we go in three, two, on—"

With a high-pitched screech, I hurled myself at Tori before Robbie could finish his countdown. I knocked her flat on her back, hooking my legs around her waist and tightening my grip on her head.

"Gaaoww!" Tori hollered, twisting and trying to loosen my hold.

"Predicter, Predicter, Predicter!" I shouted repeatedly. Suddenly, there was a hand that snaked its way around my stomach, wrenching me backwards off the younger Vega. I found myself being held a foot off the ground by Jade. Fighting and struggling like an animal, I clawed at her arms viciously, even bending my neck to bite her.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, calm down, kiddo," Beck's voice came as he jumped over to assist Jade. I threw my elbow out, missing his head by centimeters, and he grabbed my forearm so I couldn't try again, forcing it down by my side. "André! Get over here and hold her!" The IQer bounced towards us and Jade passed me over to him as easily as if I were a sack of potatoes. I lessened my attacks, not wanting to accidentally hurt the man that was going to save me by creating the promised transmitter.

"You guys better go now," André suggested. "Don't worry; I'll take care of her."

"PREDICTER!" I screamed again in my last attempt.

Trina helped Tori up and they quickly found their places back in line. "We'll be back before you know it, Cat!" Jade said, obviously trying to calm me down. Tori was staring at me with anger burning in her facial features. Jade nodded at Robbie, and the quintet disappeared with a bang, a thick green cloud of smoke rising from where they had previously been standing.

André released me and I collapsed to the floor, crawling over pathetically to the middle of the room. Tears formed in the corners of my eyes, spilling out and dampening my sleeves and the collar of my shirt.

"Hey, it's okay, Cat," André comforted, sitting fifteen feet away from me at a table covered in all sorts of tiny electronic pieces and tools. "Just like Jade said, they'll be back soon. Do you want to come over here and help me with your transmitter?"

I shook my head, allowing the dime-sized tears to splatter against the floor. It was not going to be okay. I had failed, and now someone was going to have the pay the terrible price for it. They weren't all going to be back soon.

Out of the five who had left, only four would return.

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

Jade's POV

I went from touching Beck and Tori with solid ground beneath my feet to being surrounded by freezing water and my legs kicking out trying to find a purchase that didn't exist. I could hear my friend spluttering next to me as I accidentally inhaled a mouthful of foam, coughing it out violently.

"You okay, Jade?" Beck yelled over the crashing of nearby waves. "Hey is everyone all right?" His hair was matted around his face, making his head look significantly smaller.

I rubbed my eyes, irritating them further as grains of dirt and salt pushed deeper into them. I was beginning to have a hard time staying afloat, my limbs churning the water like a mixer, yet my head was only a few inches above the surface. Robbie was bobbing up and down next to me, his glasses still planted firmly on his face. The Vega sisters were nowhere to be seen.

Ducking under the water, I opened my eyes and felt an uncomfortable sting, but nothing that was unbearable. Two dark shadows moved a few feet below me, and I pushed towards them.

Trina had an arm hooked underneath Tori, her legs trying to propel them both up, but she wasn't strong enough. I snatched Tori's other arm, helping her towards the surface. We broke the top, sneezing and hacking madly.

"Thanks," Trina choked out.

"No problem," I wheezed back.

"Which way is the island?" Beck asked once we were situated-ish. I had never been this cold before, and it didn't help with the cool breeze blowing by every once in a while. Teeth chattering, wet clothes clinging to my body like a second skin, I was ready to do anything to get out of here. Unfortunately, the more and more we swam to the island, the more I found it incredibly difficult keeping my head above the water, and I think that was because of my Regenator powers. The solid build of my body, which was how I was able to repair it at abnormally fast rates, was incredibly dense and didn't want to stay floating. Knowing that drowning was one of the few ways my caliber type could die, I started to panic a little and had to have Robbie and Beck help me.

My legs had seized up and were refusing to move any further when we finally reached the slope of sand below one of the island's two docks. Trina and Tori looked around for any security, but none were evident so we crawled up the incline, huddling together beneath the strong wooden overhang.

"Okay, we made it," Robbie huffed, wiping his wet glasses on his equally damp sleeve. "Now we need to get up and over this pier, and we'll be on the island."

"Let's rest for five minutes," Tori panted, exhausted.

The boys took off their jackets and shirts, ringing them out before slipping them back on. Luckily André had equipped us with special dry-fit clothes that would take half the time to dry out. But I was still as cold as an icicle.

"Hey, someone's coming!" Trina called from her spot highest on the slope, where she was keeping a lookout. Heavy footsteps creaked on the planks above our heads; we held our breath and remained as quiet as possible.

"Careful with that load," a male voice said, and there was the sound of a heavy cart rolling across the pier. "Sikowitz sent in a plane this time to pick up the shipment, so just hang tight."

Suddenly, there was the wild howl and scream of some sort of agitated animal. Metal rattling followed, as if the bars of a steel cage were being shaken. A woman's voice was heard shushing it.

"The pilot better be careful with this one," the unseen lady continued. "I wonder where it will be taken this time?"

"It'll need to be exterminated immediately, I think. Nicron version 1.6.7 caused the subject to gain an overload of the caliber power. This little guy here was injected with the Regenator ability, and apparently during testing, when they set him on fire, he grew an extra arm."

"Gross," the woman commented.

"Yeah. We wouldn't want that happening to the humans, now would we?" The two people continued talking, but were interrupted by another agonized screech of the animal they were keeping up there.

I turned to the rest of the gang. Tori looked like she was about to start crying, with Robbie and Beck wearing identical looks of horror. Trina had her cheeks puffed out and was scratching at her nose.

When I came here, I thought that Sikowitz simply making potions of the drug and blowing things up in the labs.

I had no idea we were going to be dealing with animal experimentation.

* * *

**WHOO! Things are finally heating up! :D**

**So the main reason why I put in Cat's birthday (June 26, which is also Ariana Grande's b-day) was to show what month this story takes place in. "Trigger" took place in May, so this one is in June. :P That was the main purpose.**

**I am so excited right now. You are too, yes? ;) Tell me what you think it's gonna happen next. :D Who wants to be lucky review number 50?**


	14. New Finds

**Long time, no see everyone! I'll be updating more frequently, as part of my New Year's resolution. :D So please enjoy!**

**Special shout-out to: Azkadellio, BeautyAsAWickedWitch, Sea-Green93, YeahI'mSmilingButInsideI'mDyin, amal-rukia, and JessyRae. ;)**

***No animals were harmed during the writing of this chapter.**

* * *

CHAPTER 14  
Beck's POV

_Animal experimentation_.

That's what was going on here. I couldn't believe Sikowitz. He never struck me as someone who ever dare to even hurt a fly, as unpredictable and crazy as he was. The animal above us sounded like it was in some serious distress—but the people with it didn't seem to notice, or at least, care. I felt sick, crawling over silently to Jade and hugging her against my chest. She remained unresponsive, her neck tilted back to continue looking above us.

We had to wait until they were gone before coming out of hiding, and that also meant waiting for the plane to come by and pick them up. I had no idea how much time passed as we sat there. Our clothes were fully dried when a loud roaring split the air. From in between the slats of wood, I could make out the shadowy form of a tiny aircraft dipping closer and closer to the water. Painted almost entirely black, with the exception of the yellow stripes decorating its side and cockpit in a sleek fashion, the plane descended low enough to gracefully land on the water's surface, gliding over to the edge of the pier carefully.

The man and woman began conversing with the pilot and I caught a glimpse of the steel cage as it was rolled towards the aircraft. It was small, just like a handheld pet carrier, encasing a tiny monkey with two tails…or maybe one of them was the extra 'arm' the creature had grown during one of its experiments. At least ten minutes passed before the screaming animal was brought onto the plane. The pilot said good-bye before clambering into the cockpit. There was a loud whirring as the propellers spun, pushing it away from the island as it coasted on the water before finally gathering enough speed for a lift-off.

"The next one will be here in two hours," the man said. "We'd better go and cage up the animals we want to ship out." Their footsteps showed no sense of remorse or guilt as they trudged off the pier and entered the island.

"Let's get up there before someone else comes by," Trina suggested, but we were all too shocked to move. "What? Don't be a bunch of babies. Did you all really expect this place to be a nice, happy-slappy resort or something?" Sighing, she climbed up the slope by herself and darted out, boarding the pier and running across, and it became quiet again.

We followed warily, knowing that there was no turning back now. I had an excellent view of the island—at least the front of it. A chain-link fence ten-feet high surrounded its entire border at the shoreline for as far as I could see. Huge green trees, bushes, and other plants were scattered in clumps, making the place seem desolate and untamable. There wasn't even a path set anywhere that we were supposed to follow. This island resembled a wild jungle.

Trina was hiding behind a curtain of vines swinging down from a leafy tree. We gathered around her in a small circle, staying low and out of anyone else's sight. I ran my hand curiously through the patches of thick grass we were sitting on, noting the lusciousness and the difference it was from the grass that grew on the lawns of Hawthorn Lake.

"Is this where we split up into groups?" Trina asked.

"Yeah. How do you guys want to do this?"

"I want to go with Jade!" Tori exclaimed in a quiet whisper. I glanced at my girlfriend. Personally, I'd wanted to be with her, but maybe it would be better if she went with Tori. We would probably end up arguing over the tiniest matter and alert the entire island of our presence. Giving no more of a reaction than a shrug of her shoulders, it seemed that Jade was okay being with Tori.

"And me, Robbie and Beck will be in the other group." Trina seemed strangely excited about that.

"Listen up," I said, "We are here to look for the facility and see what more crimes are being committed here. I honestly didn't think it was going to be this bad, and it looks like we made need to take some action after all. Stay away from all people and animals. If any of you can figure out where the volunteers are being sent for testing, or where the animals are being located, then great. But if anyone runs into trouble, get back under the pier we started at and wait for the rest of us. Otherwise, just do what you need to do, and if nothing happens by the time sunset comes around, then meet at the pier anyway. Understand?"

"All right, sounds good." Jade stood up, grabbing Tori's wrist and dragging her away. Dead leaves crunched under their boots and they eventually disappeared through the bushes.

"Let's go in the opposite direction," Robbie recommended.

Trina insisted on leading our group, which we didn't object to, and we off. There was a slight breeze blowing against us, and I wondered if there were any Sniffers working on the security—they were calibers with an enhanced sense of smell so strong it was possible for them to track down humans and other things based on a single scent. No doubt it would easy for them to catch a whiff of Trina's perfume or Robbie's cologne, and we would be done for.

"Tori said the facility was in the middle of the island, right?" Robbie asked after we seemed to have been trekking around aimlessly for twenty minutes.

"Yes, but where exactly is the middle of the island, and where exactly are we?"

André was supposed to be monitoring our progress from his lab, since we had decided that having earpieces to communicate with him would not be necessary to have here. The island was bound to have something that could sense the signals given off by the earpieces, and that was also why we were banned from bringing our cell phones.

"Stop talking so loud, you guys," I shushed, nervousness and anticipation itching at my throat uneasily. "We can't get caught."

"We're not gonna. Don't freak so much, Beck," Trina replied exasperatedly.

Shaking my head, we continued forward. The landscape around us remained the same; we were getting nowhere. My biggest fear was that we would be walking in circles. Robbie eventually decided, that to prevent this problem, he would make markers on the ground and trees. He had snuck in some sort of pocketknife, and used this to slash an 'X' every few trees we passed.

It must've been at least an hour when we started hearing noises that were not our own. Panicked, Robbie jumped behind a tree, Trina crouched down in some bushes, and I lay on my stomach in the tall grass, hoping to God that my dark clothes would help hide me.

"GRRRAAA! RRRFFF. Pff."

Heavy rustling, like leaves crumbling under a large weight, followed this odd sound before it went quiet for a brief moment. My heart was pounding in my throat as more noises were made.

"Chu-chu-chu-chutt! Whut whut!"

_That can't be a human_, I thought to myself. Slowly lifting my head, I looked around, my eyes struggling to take in every single detail around me. The soft dewdrops peppered along the rims of dull green leaves, the swaying of branches, and brightness of the sun. Nothing seemed out of place.

"I don't think anyone's coming," I finally said.

Robbie appeared once more, and Trina burst out of the bush, angrily muttering how her hair was now messed up from the twigs stuck in her highlighted tresses.

"What do you think that was?"

"Something certainly not human," I answered Robbie grimly.

"It was probably an animal." Trina jumped to a conclusion that seemed quite accurate. "Let's see if we can find it."

Hesitantly, we followed the bold girl as she pushed her way through the thick brush. There was more chattering sounds, followed by a low growling. It got louder and louder the further we walked, and I felt as if my head was going to explode from the excitement.

Suddenly, Trina stopped, throwing out her arms and smacking Robbie in the face.

"Ouch," he yelped, rubbing his nose as his eyes watered.

"Oh god," Trina said, oblivious to what she had just done. "_Look_."

I peeked around her body, noticing that we were almost at the edge of the cliff. But, upon inching closer, I realized that it was what was _below _the cliff as the reason why Trina had stopped.

About twenty feet down was a big maze of interconnecting steel cages with concrete floors. Most of them were empty but a few here and there had occupants. The bars of each 'pen' were thick and spread only inches away from the next, in patterns crisscrossing horizontally and vertically. An entrance to each of them could be seen, with complex locks keeping them shut.

The first animal I saw was an enormous brown bear, sitting on its haunches with its back towards us. It scratched its nose, whining softly and laying down, covering its eyes with paws the size of dinner plates. In another enclosure four doors down was a giant guinea pig, colored black with splotches of beige. It was huddling in the corner, staring up at the ceiling with a gaping mouth. It turned in a circle awkwardly, and that was when I saw something that made my heart leap out of my chest.

The massive guinea pig was missing half of its body.

It was like someone had taken a sword and cut in cleanly in half near the middle of its abdomen. Only two front legs, its head and part of its torso remained. But the creature was balanced perfectly, and didn't appear to be in any pain. Maybe being too far up and the thought of what could've happened to it was giving me terrible hallucinations—but I could've sworn I saw its intestines sticking out of its back end, also looking half-severed.

Lastly, there was a dog-like animal who was asleep in a small ball. It looked perfectly fine until it stood up, giving its body a quick shake, and a pair of feathery black wings sprouted from its back, causing the creature to levitate from the ground a few feet. It howled pitifully when it banged its head on the top and collapsed back to the concrete, the wings retracting away and it fell asleep again.

Robbie keeled over, throwing his body in a tuft of weeds and making retching noises. Trina was stunned still, her lips moving to make words but no sound came out. Suddenly, the trees around the cages rustled, and a figure popped out. They were dressed in a pure white suit, with a mask slung across their face and gloves that went up to their elbows. Turning round, they motioned back at the trees and a whole group of people filed out, each of them pulling on some sort of large wagon carrying another large beast.

It was lying on its back, four legs splayed out and its long, scaled tail drooping off the end of the cart. I quickly identified it as a crocodile, a shiny wrapping securing its long snout shut. The first figure opened the door to an empty cage and the croc was shoved in head-first, where it remained motionless on the ground. Closing and locking the gate, the people disappeared back through the trees.

"Should we free them?" Trina asked after some time.

"What good would that do?" I hissed, even though I did want to end their suffering. But if we freed them, wouldn't that mean more trouble for us if we couldn't escape the island in time? And we had no idea what Jade and Tori were up to.

"Um, is that the main facility?" Robbie asked, standing up and looking paler than a ghost.

"I don't think so. It might just be a separate part, where they house the…animals," I said, swallowing hard. "We'd better get a move on." I tugged their arms and led them away from edge of the cliff. "Just don't expect things to look any better when we find it."

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

André's POV

"Cat, come here."

The little redhead was sitting in front of the computer screens, watching them intently. Right now, one screen displayed all five our of friends and their body stats. Nothing drastic was happening, so I wasn't worried. On the opposite screen was their location, and because we were hooked up to a human satellite, it appeared that they were just floating in the middle of the ocean, when in reality, they were on the island, or at least should be.

"Cat, stop worrying about them. Come here and help me with your transmitter. I'm making a few prototypes first, and then we can test them out." My fingers picked expertly at the dozens of mini pieces set on the table. I had been using my vast amount of knowledge with electronics to create a sort of device that would block the signals Cat's chip was giving off, and although the concept itself was not hard for me to understand, it was the actual building of it that was, as I had limited pieces and could not go out looking for more at the moment.

Finally, with an obvious expression of sadness, slumped shoulders and a pout, Cat came over, sitting in the vacant chair across from me. She slouched in her seat until three-quarters of her body were hidden under the table, and just her nose and eyes were looking back at me.

"Hey, don't give me that face," I said, growing uncomfortable as her deep hazel eyes bored into me. "Come here. I'll show you how this works." Still frowning, she got up, walking towards me and kneeling down. "Do you want me to put this in a necklace for you? That way, it'll be close to the chip, and you won't have to worry about leaving it anywhere."

She nodded as a response, getting back up and trotting over to the screens, where she sat down and gazed up at them. I shook my head, slightly confused by her current actions. She was probably just nervous because Beck and Jade weren't with her, which was completely understandable. But I didn't think I was that boring of a guy to be around with.

Shaking my head, I went back to my work, not noticing when Cat scooted over to sit directly in front of Tori's picture.

* * *

**The 'giant guinea pig' is technically a 'capybara,' if any of you want to know the proper name of it. And don't worry. These animals are more okay than you think. Promise. ;)**

**See you all soon. Hope you liked it. We are nearing the most exciting part, so get ready to be blown away, haha. :D**


	15. Ace in the Hole

**To explain for the absence, my beta for some reason never replied back and it's been about two weeks and I don't want to make you guys wait anymore so here it is. **

**Saturday my life pretty much ends since Victorious is over. And I have to go to my grandmother's (she's crazier than André's grandmother, believe me :P) b-day party instead of getting to watch it, and I'm completely upset about that and naturally, no one cares! **

**But don't worry about this story. It's far from over. It's only just begun.**

**Hugs to: Azkadellio, JessyRae, YeahI'mSmilinButInsideI'mDyin, Sea-Green93, amal-rukia, and bade! Thanks so much you guys! ;)**

* * *

CHAPTER 15  
Jade's POV

I have never been this irritated at a plant before in my life. I wanted to yank them out of the trees and bushes and snap their puny twigs over my knee. God, I was just so frustrated with them right now.

Trekking through this _jungle_ was easier said than done. I was in the lead, every branch and clump of leaves dangling in front of my face, blocking my sight or tripping me. Swatting them aside did nothing, as they rebounded and hit me before I could duck in time. Naturally, Tori, who was only two feet behind me, managed to dodge out of the way, and had almost laughed herself to tears when I fell and got tangled in shrub and couldn't get back up.

"You know what kid, you can lead the way," I said, beyond irritated as I picked dead leaves out of my hair.

"No, no, you're doing a great job," she replied, her voice sounding strained from laughing so hard. "And anyway, you wouldn't want me to fall into any sort of trap, would you? Because I'm sure Trina would _murder _you if something happened to me and you just sat there and—"

"Okay, okay!" I shouted, waving at her to shut up. She simpered happily, and we continued on. But of course she would still tell me when to turn and that we were heading in the wrong direction, as if she really knew where we going to begin with. I just rolled my eyes and didn't question her.

I had a strange feeling in my gut that we were making absolutely no progress. Our surroundings consisted of nothing but untrimmed bushes, overly grown trees, and wild grass almost a foot high. Until finally, we found a cage that blended into the landscape around it so well I walked right into it.

My forehead smacked sharply into a solid steel bar and I staggered back, my arms flailing and missing Tori by centimeters. Cursing like a sailor, I teetered forward, re-gaining my balance and looking up, this time more closely. I could just barely make out the bars of huge enclosure, at least the size of an average classroom , with nothing in it besides the natural jungle floor.

"Whoa! You found something!" Tori said excitedly, bouncing up and down like a little kid. "But it's empty."

"Excellent observation, kid." I shook my head back and forth, like I was trying to clear water from my ears. Tori went and walked the perimeter of the cage, her fingertips dancing across each individual bar separated from each other by a few inches, the clang of nails against metal resonating sharply. "What are you doing?" I called out.

"I found a lock over here! And a door!" Tori was on the complete opposite side, her fingers fiddling with something at her waist level that I couldn't see. "Why would the door be locked if there's nothing inside the cage?" She reached into her pocket, her hand emerging with a black bobby pin. Pulling it backwards and out of shape, she forced the pointy end into the bottom opening of the lock. _That's my girl_, I thought almost proudly.

"Maybe there is something in here, but we just can't see it," I offered, sticking my hand through the bars and waving it up and down. Tori started tilting her head to the left and right, as if that would help her pick the lock. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"Nope!" she replied almost cheerfully. "Just doing what happens in the movies."

While she struggled to open the deadbolt, I walked across one side of the cage. Peering in, focusing carefully on the way the grass was blowing, for a split second I could've sworn a patch of grass flattened as if something sat down on it, but then they popped back up like nothing happened.

"Hmm…and there's no other cages around here, is there? Are you done yet?"

"I don't know! It's kind of a lot more complicated than it looks." I walked over to her and saw that she had removed the bobby pin and tossed the horribly disfigured and bent object to the ground, where it nestled in the dirt inches away from the bottom bar of the cage. The lock itself looked completely unharmed, bolted tightly to the door. There was a stripe going in a zigzag pattern across the wide surface, like a decoration.

"Then use your powers," I suggested, "and blow it up."

"I don't think I can do that," she admitted, looking down at the ground.

"Why not? Don't know how?"

"No…"

"So you're too _weak_, then?"

Her cheeks flushed red and she brushed hair out of her face. "_No_. Just watch and learn then." Smirking, I stepped back to give her some space. Tori put her hands a foot above the lock, fingers spread and suddenly she tensed, her hand clenching up with the bones pushing against her skin and veins became visible. The lock started shaking violently even though nothing was touching it.

There was a click, and the lock went slack, the top part neatly disconnecting with its lower half. Reaching out, Tori twisted the lock off the door and pushed against it, the bottom gliding inwards and gently brushing the surface of the grass below. "You were saying?"

"I'm going first." I made her stay on the outside of the cage as I ventured in cautiously and carefully. The ground was smooth and firm beneath my boots, and I held my breath, walking to each corner of the cage and examining everything. "Okay," I said, exiting the pen, "There's nothing of value in here. Let's go somewhere else." Tori re-locked the cage and we started to head in a new direction.

I caught a glimpse of something unnaturally bright red blinking on the ground inside the cage. Eyes searching, I found nothing out of place.

"Hurry up, Jade!" Tori called, twenty feet away.

Seeing no more red besides the petals of a single flower, I jogged after Tori.

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

"Should we try and find the others?" Tori finally asked, breaking the silence.

"We'd probably have better luck finding them than this stupid facility," I muttered. I was tired and bored, and we hadn't come across anything more interesting than that cage in the last two hours. The sun had risen to its peak, the heat making us itchy with sweat and choked us with humidity. Very soon it would begin setting, and we'd have to go back to Orlando.

"This did not go as planned."

"Obviously."

After another good ten minutes, I started to hear the sound of waves crashing against a shore. "I think we're almost on the border of the island. When we find the fence, we can just follow it to the nearest pier and—"

ERRR! ERRRR! ANK ANK ANK ANK!

Out of nowhere, a blaring alarm sounded. I dropped like a sack of potatoes, pulling Tori down with me. She curled into a ball, covering her ears from the strident sounds.

"CODE 646. CODE 646. EVACUATION PROCEDURES. CODE 646."

"What does that mean?" Tori shouted.

_We need to get out of here; hopefully no one got caught. _"Let's go through the jungle instead of walking around in the open out here. We'll go to the pier and wait for the others, if they're not already there." I helped her up and we sprinted back into the impossibly dense forest. There was no time to get angry at the branches and vines that blocked our paths, so I simple spun a ninety-degree turn and went a different way.

"How do you know where we're going?" Tori huffed.

"I don't!"

Up ahead was a huge tree trunk that had fallen over, blocking our path. But there was still room underneath to crawl through. I ran, approaching it at a fast so I could duck at then slide under all the way, when Tori screamed behind me suddenly.

"JADE!"

I turned my head in time to see the ground beneath her collapse, a thick cloud of dust shooting up and burning my throat and making my eyes water. Taking one step forward, I felt my foot give way and immediately backed up. I waved my arms to clear a path in the smoky powder and saw what looked like a ten-foot large hole Tori had fallen into. Peering over the edge, she was sprawled on the dirt twenty feet below, looking petrified and stunned.

"Are you okay, kid?" I shouted down, my voice echoing. I wondered how I had managed to run right over this when I was bigger than Tori and my weight should've made it cave in.

"Yeah…yeah I think so." She stood up, stumbling over to one wall of the hole. "Hey…there's an opening in here. It kind of looks like a tunnel!"

"Be careful!" I warned.

There was a rustling in the trees and bushes around me. I froze, and someone began shouting orders out. People were coming. And they were close. I had to hide, but I couldn't leave Tori in the open, trapped inside a giant hole.

So I voluntarily jumped down with her.

My stomach did a flip as I landed heavily on the dirt, surprising Tori when she turned around. "Hi." She gave me a questioning look.

"How are we going to get out now?"

"Oops."

"Are you serious—"

"Shh…shh…there's people up there. We can't let them here us, okay?" Tori put on her annoyed face, which mostly just looked like an awkward frown. She pointed to left side of the hole, where part of the wall had been cleanly scooped away, revealing some sort of dark tube that led to who knows where.

"Wait!" Tori grabbed my arm, jabbing a finger at the top of the hole. "Did you see that up there?"

"See what?"

"It looked like a—"

And then I tuned Tori out, because I could hear a low growling that was much louder than her voice coming from the entrance of the tunnel. We sat on the ground, and she partially fell in my lap, but didn't struggle to get out, fear crossing her features.

"You heard that, right?" I whispered.

"Uh-huh," she mumbled.

Something appeared in the tunnel. It was the shadowy outline of a figure less than three feet tall, crouched down and leaning forward in an attempt to appear more menacing. There was a glint of light against a heavy jaw, mouth crammed with long, knife-like teeth. The creature continued forward until it came into full view, revealing itself to be a gray wolf.

"Don't. Move." I said to Tori as the animal approached us slowly. Bold, yellow eyes followed our every movement as it pressed us up against the wall. It stopped in front of us, sitting on its rump and tilting its head to the side. "Um…"

The wolf's head snapped up and it let out a long, sad howl that made tremors run up my spine uneasily. Then, standing once more and shifting its paws uneasily, it darted back towards the tunnel, tail fluttering out behind it.

"That was close," Tori said, still shaking from the encounter.

"Yeah, but we need to get out of—"

"OH MY GOD!" she screamed before clamping a hand over her mouth. I lifted my head, anxious at what she had seen, and my heart dropped when I did.

The massive skull of brown bear was visible over the edge, ears twitching and tongue lolling out of its mouth. It disappeared for a moment, causing me to think that maybe I was just seeing things when it reappeared again.

And the next thing I knew, the bear had leaped over the edge to be with us.

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

_Unidentified POV-Two hours earlier_

_ The animal watched with its red, full eyes as the pale girl exited its enclosure. The smaller, more yappy girl proceeded to put the lock back properly on its cage before bounding away. The pale girl looked back inside the pen for a few moments, making eye contact with the practically invisible creature lying stealthily in the grass. Then, shaking her head, she backed away, jogging after the smaller human. _

_ The creature moved itself into a sitting position, morphing back into its normal form: a silver-backed gorilla. It knew that something was different and wrong about itself every since those people had come and poked pointy objects into its arm. The gorilla only had a blur of memories after that, somehow ending up in this wide cage with no one else around. It was spacious enough, but very lonely as no one came by except for the people who had hurt it. That is, until those two new humans came and infiltrated its space._

_ The gorilla shuffled over to the gate of its cage, curiously searching for the heavy lock the small girl had played with in order to open the door. Sticking a beefy arm through the slot between the bars, its thick fingers patted the grass outside the cage, finally finding what the girl had dropped: the tiny piece of wire bent and twisted out of its original shape. The animal recalled the girl's movement of sticking it up the bottom of the lock, and wiggling it back and forth. That was how it had been opened, right?_

_ The lock banged against the bars and door repeatedly as the gorilla struggled to unlock it. _How had the human done it_? he thought to himself. _They did something with their hands and it worked. But I can't do whatever she did. I'm not _that _special_. Remaining adamant, the gorilla decided to test it out for himself._

_ Placing its large hands around the lock, it squeezed and tried to bend it out of shape. It didn't work, and the gorilla gave up and went back to its first tactic. _

_ But this time, the piece of wire unlocked the heavy metal bolt._

_ The lock clicked apart and the gorilla hastily struggled to get it off the door, throwing it on the grass. It sat back and pushed; when the door did not open it wrapped its fingers around one bar and pulled and that seemed to work better. _

_ It was free. _

_ Now it was time to free the others._

* * *

**Look who's in trouble now! DUN, DUN, DUUNNN.**

**If anyone wants a very intense and exciting preview of the next chapter, all you need to do is review! :D**


	16. Attack

**The last Victorious episode has aired. :( I'm very depressed. **

**WARNING: This is the most violent chapter in this entire story. Please read with caution.**

**Shout-out to my amazing reviewers: JessyRae, amal-rukia, bade, Azkadellio, and YeahI'mSmilingButInsideI'mDyin.**

* * *

CHAPTER 16  
Beck's POV

An alarm blared with an animatronic voice screeching out, "CODE 646! CODE 646!"

I jumped at least three feet in the air, startled by the sudden sound. Robbie collided into my body and we became awkwardly tangled in each other's limbs, rolling in the dry grass to separate us.

"Back to the pier?" Trina yelled, ducking down.

Suddenly, a new person's voice pierced the air. "Evacuate the island as fast as you can! All security must stay behind and help put the animals away; God knows how they got out of their cages in the first place."

_The animals escaped? Well that's good news for them, now they don't need to be with these psychotic people who probably are treating them like scum at the actual labs. But that's not great for us since if we make contact, they'll probably try to kill us_.

The ground shook as the people scattered, most likely armed heavily and not caring if anyone or anything died in the process of re-capturing all the animals.

"Robbie, just dimension us to the pier," Trina hissed, tugging on his sleeve.

"Are you sure it's safe?" he responded, glancing at the both of us. I nodded, not thinking too much of it. Anyway, people would be more panicked that their experiments had escaped and getting to safety than be concerned about why three people were hiding beneath a pier. I put my hand on his shoulder and Trina grabbed mine.

My body felt as if it was being squeezed through a tube, air pushed out of my lungs and my head spun wildly, unable to focus and make out the colorful forms of the objects swirling in a tornado around us. And then I fell onto soft sand, face planting on the dirt. Rubbing my sore cheek, I sat up, gaining my sense of balance again.

"Jade and Tori aren't here," Robbie pointed out.

"Yet," Trina interrupted. "They aren't here _yet_."

"It would be harder for them to get here since they can't just teleport," I added, brushing off the front of my shirt, feeling the heavy thud of my heart in my chest. "We'll just have to wait here until they appear."

"And what if that never happens?" Trina's tone showed that she was becoming anxious. "I think we'll need to go and look for them, instead of sitting here all day and hope that they manage to find their way back."

"You heard that worker though. The animals are loose, and who knows how violent they could act upon seeing another human being," I said.

"What? Do you not want to go back for your girlfriend, Beck?"

"Of course I do," I snapped, correcting myself. The thought that she might be in any sort of danger felt as if someone had lit fire to my heart and its flames were slowly consuming the rest of my body. "We just have to be careful. Very careful." As soon as I had stopped talking, there was a thundering sound on the planks above as people poured onto the wooden pier. They were chattering loudly, some looking for friends and others trying to find a Dimensioner who could take them off the island. They were in a hurry to leave, and we were in a hurry to get back in so we could find our friends.

Robbie nodded. "I'll take us back to where the cages were. We can spread out from there and maybe we'll find some tracks…either human or animal." I reached for his hand, and everything turned green once more.

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

Jade's POV

The ground literally shook with a force equal to a medium earthquake as the bear landed on its four paws, sinking a few inches into the dirt. Stretching back its massive jaw into a yawn so big my head would fit inside, it scratched behind its ears, blinking at us. Then, sitting down softly, it keeled over in the next second and fell asleep, snoring loudly.

"Don't…make…any…sudden…movements," I hissed to Tori. She nodded fearfully, keeping her eyes trained on the slow-breathing creature. "Go…to…tunnel." We inched around the bear's sleeping form, every twig or leaf that crunched under our feet giving us a mini heart attack. I pushed Tori to my side so I was between her and the bear and she held my arm in a death grip. We were four feet away from the entrance of the tunnel when the wolf re-appeared.

I swear, this day could not get any worse.

The wolf snarled, pulling back its top lip to reveal a straightened row of dull white, scissor-sharp teeth. Tori squeezed my arm so hard my hand went numb from the immediate blood loss and I couldn't wiggle my fingers. I backed up, forcing us against the closest dirt wall. In the corner of my eye, I could see the bear shifting noisily in its sleep, long, jagged claws scratching gently at the dirt.

Suddenly, the wolf leaped off the ground towards us. I ripped my hand away from Tori's just in time to throw my arms around the canine's thickly furred neck as it crashed into me. I felt its hard neck muscles bunching tightly and springing forward to bring its jaw inches from my face. Hot, rancid air huffed from its nostrils, golden eyes locking onto my icy ones.

"RUN TORI!" I screamed as its paws swiped at my chest and shoulders. The wolf's short but sharp claws snagged into my skin and ripped through my shirt, tiny drops of blood dribbling out before the scratches healed.

"Where to?" she screeched back, her voice cracking.

There was a sudden pain in my forehead—the wolf had slashed its right front paw out and tore a bloody gash on my face. Using my stomach as a launch pad and leaping over my head, the wolf sent dirt flying as it scrambled to get to Tori, who started screaming like a little girl. She stuck her hand out and the wolf bounced off of some sort of invisible shield surrounding her, growling when it realized what had happened and crouched down, tensed up and waiting.

Quickly wiping away the blood dripping into my eyes, I charged towards the wolf, when something four times larger crashed into my side and set me off course. My bones snapped as I rolled under the impossibly heavy wait, my mouth and nose smashed into the dirt.

It was the bear.

I was lying on my stomach in a daze and the bear had its claws hooked into my back. Feeling an great pressure and the gut-twisting pain, the bear pulled away, snorting and moving to stand next to me. My shirt became hot and sticky; I felt my leg break itself to fit back into its proper socket. The pain tearing up my eyes and ringing in my ears, I could just hardly make out what Tori was trying to tell me.

"Jade! Jade are you okay?"

Raising my head slightly, I saw the wolf sitting on its rump and its face was frozen in a terrifying snarl. I guess Tori had managed to keep it from moving with her powers. Impressive. The bear turned to face her, eyes dilating to a pitch black and it let out a roar that shook the ground. Tori shifted her head towards it, and then it went forward to attack her, stepping all over me again in its haste.

"Ugh," I winced when its heavy feet stomped on my back again. The bear pinned Tori down with a single swat and she was squirming underneath. I saw the animal's paw come up and slash deeply into her left arm, dragging it down from her elbow to her wrist before pulling out. Tori let out a tormented scream as her blood squirted everywhere when the bear backed away. Tucking her arm into her body, tears streamed down her face and she struggled to stop the running blood flow.

Before I could get to her, the bear spun around and trotted back over to me, while the wolf, its lips pulled into a shifty grin, went for Tori. I felt the ten, razor-sharp claws stab into the back of my legs. The pain exploded in my head and everything went white as I howled in agony. The bear ripped its nails down to the back of my knees and I lurched out of its grip, dragging my legs behind uselessly as they bled profusely. The wolf had its teeth in the now-unconscious Tori's shoulder, beginning to drag her towards the entrance of the tunnel.

"TORI!" I said, straining my voice terribly. "WAKE UP!"

A hefty bear paw swung down and caught the side of my ribcage, rolling me onto my back. "Owwhh," I groaned, reaching to feel the punctured flesh and sticky warmth on my fingers. The beast stood up on its hind legs, slashing the air and shaking its head back and forth. It hurt too much for me to twist away, so I lay there in pure terror as the bear fell towards me in slow motion.

I could do nothing to stop the knife-like nails as they tore into my chest and stomach. It was like a dam had burst as blood flooded into my lungs, drowning me from the inside. The horrible pain in my abdomen told me that it had probably cut some intestines too. The bear twisted its hands, splintering my ribs and ripping more skin away from my body before it stopped, beady eyes sparkling maliciously.

The pain was simply unbearable…no pun intended. I couldn't breathe, let alone fight back. This was the worst thing I had ever felt in my life. Being beaten by Archelaus is a frozen wasteland was nothing compared to this, and neither was being shot twice and having my face smashed in by Beck. My Regenator powers were too overwhelmed by the immense trauma I had sustained and my healing had slowed down significantly, at least, that's how I felt it was.

Blood and saliva coated my lips and chin; I bent my neck forward, trying not to look at the mutilated mess of my body and focus on keeping my intestines from falling out of my stomach wound.

I was just too weak. And helpless. The wolf was pawing at Tori's head, pushing its nose under her back and rolling her away into the darkness. _No…come back, kid…please come back_…The bear raised and lowered its shoulders while glancing at its partner, looking at me hesitantly. Then it dropped its head and came at me one more time.

The only thing I saw was its mouth, stretched to an almost ninety-degree angle, huge canines that could slice limbs apart with one chomp, and the large entrance of its throat that could swallow a grapefruit whole. And it closed.

On my head.

Teeth sunk into my bruised forehead and crunched through the back of my skull. My eyes felt like they were being pushed from their sockets and I threw my hands up, wrapping them around the corners of the bear's mouth and trying to pry its intense grip loose, but then my body seized up and I went limp. The pain pulsed and pierced in my head, blood rolling down my temples and cheeks. The bear stabbed its claws into my torso again and ripped me apart like a doll, at the same time trying to sever my head from my body.

A wave of black washed over me and suddenly the pain was gone.

I blinked slowly, trying to figure out where I was. It appeared that I was now sitting _behind _the bear as it shook wildly, its back towards me. _What in the world? How did I get over here_? Standing quickly, I did a quick assessment of myself, noting how my clothes were neat and clean and there was no blood on my body.

Tiptoeing carefully, I rounded the bear to see its front. I saw some sort of pink, ropey object laying on the ground and soaked in blood. Following the trail of slime where it had been tossed from, I laid my eyes on a body.

The body's limbs were twisted and unmoving, fingers clenched up in agony, and white bones showed through shredded clothing. The bear was holding the body's head in its mouth when I realized…

That was _my _body.

But, how could I be over there, if I was over here? Then it hit me. In my current state, I wasn't real. I didn't exist. My physical form was over there, and I guess this was just like, my mental form right here. So why was I looking at dying self?

There was a sudden heat in my chest, like my heart had been pierced, but it wasn't a painful feeling. My hands turned bright white, and I started to glow. I waited to see if the bear had noticed me at all, but it hadn't and continued to maul the body…_me_…below it. The surroundings grew pale in color until it all turned white and disappeared completely.

I was not unconscious, nor was I dreaming.

I was dead.

* * *

**:( So where did Tori go? And will Jade come back to life?**

**Find out in the next installment of "Predicter," coming next week to a computer near you. :)**

**On another note, I published a Victorious fic adapted from the movie "Inception," if anyone wants to check that out. ;)**


	17. Half Rescue

**Happy President's day to those who live in the US like me! :) To celebrate no school, I am updating since I didn't last week. Sorry. Life for me was way too hectic. But now it's calmed down for this week, so yay!**

**Shout-outs to: JessyRae, bade, Azkadellio, and amal-rukia. :D**

* * *

CHAPTER 17  
Robbie's POV

Beck and Trina were tripping over their own feet in the haste to find their close ones. I felt a little lonely, even though I did care a lot about the two girls we were going to rescue, but it wasn't like I had an intense personal connection with either of them. Tori seemed more interested in guys that weren't me, maybe because she was very uncomfortable with how obvious I was around her, and the relationship I had with Jade was like trying to cut the right wires to stop a time bomb.

The cages came into view, revealing that all of them were empty with doors swung wide open carelessly.

"Uh-oh…" Trina said.

Right now, unless the animals had specifically been moved to a new location by trained guards, there was currently a brown bear, gray wolf that could sprout wings, half of a giant guinea pig, and an alligator roaming around the island, and we didn't know if there were more, although there most likely was. That was a huge potential threat to us, with the exception of the guinea pig, who seemed to quite helpless and more of a broken stuffed animal if anything.

"Let's go down there and follow some of the tracks," Beck suggested.

I dimensioned us to the bottom of the cliff next to the cages since we couldn't find a slope that would get us there otherwise. Beck went straight to examining the large enclosures, which were certainly a lot bigger now that we were up close and Trina was following me around.

"Hey, there are some footprints over here!" Beck called, waving us over. He was kneeling on the ground, pointing at a dinner plate-sized paw print pressed deep into the soft dirt. I assumed it was the bear's, judging by its large shape.

"Should we follow it and see where it goes?" I asked.

"Okay, but let's be careful."

The bear's paw prints led through trees and bushes, crushed branches and cracked leaves left in its path. The shrubbery eventually thinned out and the tracks were becoming farther apart, indicating that the bear had picked up speed.

So we started running too. The annoying alarm did not cease nor miss a beat. Gunshots started to be heard, scaring noisy birds out of the trees and at one point I could've sworn I heard someone screaming and animals roaring. But as we continued, the sounds became louder and more distinct until I was sure it was a woman's voice and the growling was similar to a bear's.

"That might be Jade," Beck said suddenly, pausing in mid-step, his face plastered with an expression of pure fear.

"Or Tori," Trina replied, equal with terror.

As if in response, the noises abruptly halted. Beck sprinted off in a random direction, and Trina and I were forced to follow so we wouldn't lose each other. My shoes slipped across leaves and snapped twigs in half. It would've been so much easier for me to dimension to the location, but I had no idea where we were going.

There was a huge tree trunk that had fallen in the middle of our path. Beck halted, waiting for us to catch up; when we did, he didn't say anything and proceeded to clamber over the broken tree and landed heavily on the other side.

"Robbie! Trina!" Beck screamed, his voice cracking.

We glanced at each other briefly before springing into action. I had one leg over the trunk when Trina screamed too—looking at the ground I spotted the opening of a giant hole, at least ten feet wide and twenty deep. Hopping onto the dirt, we approached it slowly and peeked over the edge. There was a big, brown animal scuffling with something of extreme interest in the dirt. Beck's face was turned to stone as his eyes searched for a person that could be down there.

Then I saw it, and I knew the others had too.

A small human hand, pale as snow and covered in blood, appeared from underneath the animal, limp and lifeless.

Beck almost launched himself down into the hole without a second thought if Trina hadn't grabbed him first, yanking him backwards and they went tumbling together. "Jade! Oh my god!" he screamed as I joined them, helping Trina restrain him.

"Beck! Beck, stop!" I shouted. "I'll go down and check it out, okay? At least I'll be able to escape faster than you in case that animal turns on us. Just stay up here and keep an eye out on things."

My ears had completely tuned out the alarm at this point, and I hoped that Jade wasn't really down there and it was maybe a guard or something else getting mauled to death.

"See if Tori might be down there too!" Trina called as Beck forced himself to calm down, falling to his knees and crawling to the brink of the hole, peering in and trying to get a better look without toppling in.

"I'll do my best. Maybe you two should check in the trees and bushes around us just in case," I suggested, wanting to create some sort of distraction for the situation. Trina nodded, hurrying to check as I rolled up my sleeves. I closed my eyes and dimensioned.

When I first landed in the pit, I realized that the hulking animal was the brown bear we had been following from the cages. Its back was towards me and its head was shaking back and forth vigorously, front legs pawing restlessly in front of it. I saw a pair of legs sticking out from underneath, clad in torn dark jeans—exactly what Jade had been wearing when we entered this island.

I carefully circled around the bear at a distance, observing the deep marks slashed on the dirt floor and the puddles of blood that practically glistened with a shiny gleam. A bubble of vomit gurgled in my throat when I saw what the bear was 'playing' with.

A body, its clothes stained red, was lying down floppily, its arms splayed out uselessly and covered in serious-looking cuts. Their head was currently in the bear's gaping mouth, teeth punctured into its skull mercilessly. I was ninety percent sure this person was dead.

"Robbie! Do you see Jade?" Beck yelled down without thinking.

The bear lifted its head, dropping the person's head, at the sound of Beck's voice. I caught sight of its mouth, matted heavily with blood, and its eyes were black and fearless. I didn't waste a second and leaped forward, latching onto the person's torn wrist—which was deathly cold between my fingers—and dimensioned us up and out of the hole.

The body fell to the ground and now that I could see it clearly, I had to squeeze my eyes shut but the image burned into my mind.

It _was _Jade, but she was hardly recognizable. Half of her face was hanging by threads of skin, the white bone of her jaw fully visible through her slashed cheek. Her hair was stringy and knotted with the blood pouring down her face. There was a slimy mess of intestines sitting on top of her open stomach.

"JADE! No, no, no, no, no," Beck sobbed, gently placing her head into his lap as he bent over her prone form. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. Robbie, take us back to André's lab. Please." He kissed her bloody forehead.

_Where's Tori and Trina_?

Down below, the bear roared up at us for taking away its prize. It stood on its hind legs, waving its large paws at us and bellowing angrily. It thumped back onto all four legs, bobbing its head back and forth and charging at a dirt wall, colliding with a loud thud and growling loudly again.

Just then, Trina appeared through the trees, her hair splayed across her face and cheeks red. She didn't even seem to notice Jade before she spewed out words so fast I could hardly understand her.

"Giant guinea pig…chased…missing…half its body…" she spluttered, pausing to take a huge breath when she saw Jade for the first time, "HOLY MOTHER OF—"

"Trina!" I jumped up, clasping my hand over her mouth. She shut up, eyes growing wide as she took in the bloody sight.

"Robbie, we need to go," Beck pleaded, tears in his eyes.

"But what about Tori?" Trina demanded. "Was she down there?"

I shook my head.

"Then we need to find her!" The oldest Vega sister was adamant, obviously wanting to stay a little longer. But Jade was in terrible condition; the longer we waited the worse she could get.

"We don't have time. Jade. Robbie, let's go."

I put my arm out to grab Beck's shoulder when Trina threw her arm around my neck and yanked me backwards away from the couple.

"Help me, Robbie!" Beck sobbed.

"No, help me!" Trina's voice rang clear.

And suddenly, a giant guinea pig appeared out of nowhere, squealing and chattering its sharp front teeth together. It waddled in a circle, revealing its missing half, and threw its head back, whistling before running towards us.

I had a choice to make before it reached us. We could either stay to find Tori, or leave and Jade would get proper medical attention. Both guardians looked up at me in sheer terror, waiting for me to make a decision. I couldn't help them both.

Feeling sick to my stomach, I made my choice.

I grabbed Beck and Trina and dimensioned us back to the lab.

We were lying on the floor and André was already running over, carrying a giant red medical kit and a pile of towels wedged under his arm. Cat was sitting at a table; as soon as she saw us she sprang up, bringing her hands to her mouth.

"Help me, André. Help me, please," Beck cried.

I felt a strong force smash into the side of my face. I suddenly went rolling away from everyone, with someone sitting on top of me. Trina pulled her fist back and tried to punch me again, but I grabbed her fist and squirmed to throw her off.

"WHY DID YOU BRING US HERE?" she screamed, a vein bulging in her neck.

I pushed her off, unable to answer, as she curled up and started crying in despair, not wanting to ask any more questions. Cat bounced over, trying to force herself between André and Beck to see whom they were tending to.

"Cat, go away," André said sternly, blocking the little redhead's view of Jade. "Go into my office, okay? Don't stay here." But Cat wasn't listening and she caught a look, freezing up in her spot before exploding into a fury of arm waves and frantic choruses of "Predicter!"

"Go away!" Beck yelled, with a harshness I'd never heard in his voice before.

I hurried up, holding Cat's shoulders and dragging her away because her legs didn't seem to be working. She turned and started crying silently into my arm. I rubbed her back as we went into André's office and watched from the doorway.

Beck lifted Jade onto a blanket of white towels, which turned a crusty red after a few seconds. André hid her stomach and face under a smaller cloth, taking out a bottle of rubbing alcohol and pouring it onto another rag to wipe the blood away with.

"No, no, you're hurting her," Beck said suddenly when André touched it against her neck.

"I'm not," André replied immediately, rubbing vigorously down her arms.

"Dude!" Beck was becoming annoyed at André's lack of sensitivity. "Be careful!"

"It doesn't matter. I saw it on the screen and the charts. Whatever attacked her crushed her skull. She's dead."

"_Excuse me_?" Beck whispered. "How can she be dead? Wouldn't her Regenator powers—"

"Yes, and they are working as we speak, but seeing the amount of damage she has suffered, it's going to take a while. We'll help speed up the process, though, okay? She may be 'dead,' but she'll come around…eventually.

"Here. Help me bring her to the storage room. I'll turn the air conditioning on in there to cool down her system." Beck hurried to pick up his girlfriend that I thought he was going to drop her and kill her again. André took her instead and refused to give her back, carrying the bloody mass of what was once a very pretty woman to the storage room.

* * *

**:O They left Tori behind and Jade's 'dead!' Who was expecting that to happen? **


	18. Moral Dilemma

**Sorry for the wait everyone! Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long as this did. School has gotten extremely complicated and busy (with sports :P) and a ton of weekly group projects. I'll do my best to keep up, though. Comments are extremely encouraging...**

**Thanks to: Azkadellio, amal-rukia, janellie04, and Gabrielle! :)**

* * *

CHAPTER 18  
Trina's POV

We left my baby sister behind. Robbie had chosen Beck and Jade over the two of us. I couldn't believe him. After all we did together; it just didn't make sense. I wanted to confront him about it, but I was still trying to comprehend just exactly what had happened.

Sitting on the ground with my legs drawn up to my chest, I buried my face behind my knees. The despair was overwhelming. We were here, safe and sound (for the most part) and Tori was still on that island, alone with a bunch of wild, mutated animals and evil scientists.

"Trina?" Robbie tried speaking to me.

"You idiot," I murmured, "Take us back."

He shook his head numbly. "I-I-I can't," he stuttered. "It's too dangerous. Please look at me, Trina. We can check and see if André's computer tracked down her location." I glanced at his face, yet he refused to make eye contact with me when he realized that I was going to hypnotize him into bringing us back to the island again.

"Come on." Robbie stalked over, taking my hand and pulling me up. I pushed away from him and sat back down. He didn't try again. "Cat, come here," he called instead, and guided the artificial redhead around the stained floor towards André's computer. I watched from my place as he smashed his fingers against the keyboard.

Multiple screens popped up, including the ones that displayed our body statistics. Jade's was blinking a dark red and had an exclamation point in the middle, indicating below it that her pulse was under fifteen beats per minute. She wasn't exactly dead, but she wasn't really living either.

"Where is Tori's?" I asked, counting four pictures and not five.

"It's around here somewhere. Let me find it," Robbie assured smoothly. He re-opened old tabs and closed excess windows but was unable to find the picture where Tori's vital stats were shown. The tension built and my chest tightened when my heart began pounding faster. Finally, Robbie found a search box and typed in 'Tori Vega Stats.'

A little white box popped up. It read: 'Connection lost. Location cannot be traced.'

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

Robbie turned around slowly. "Er…"

"Did. I. Read. That. Correctly?" I said through clenched teeth. Robbie brought his hands up in the surrender position, pushing Cat to move so I wouldn't accidentally attack her too.

"It's just a malfunction, I'm sure—" Robbie tried to explain himself, panicked.

I could not remember what happened in the next ten seconds, but Robbie ended up on the floor, clutching his face with blood trickling out between his fingers and Cat had sprinted out of the room faster than a terrified jackrabbit. Launching myself at the prone Dimensioner, my fingers caught onto his shoulder and pulled him back, rolling him onto his stomach. He curled into a ball, protecting his neck and whimpering pathetically.

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" I shouted at the top of my lungs and thought a vein was going to pop on my face. I stomped towards him menacingly, grabbing the closest object, which was a chair, and hurling it at the wall before the object crumpled into six different pieces. "YOU FILTHY LITTLE—"

At that moment, Beck and André appeared in the doorway of the room, Cat hovering behind them anxiously. Beck was practically naked; he wasn't wearing a shirt, jacket _or _pants. In his arms was a pile of shredded clothes that were stained in dark crimson splotches.

There was a boiling urge in my chest to attack him too. This was also his fault, after all. If he hadn't managed to convince Robbie to save his precious girlfriend, we would still be on the island looking for Tori.

So I made a beeline for Beck. However, André intercepted me before I could sink my nails into his beautiful face. I screamed, kicking out and thrashing wildly in André's arms. Breaking away, I laughed maniacally and saw a table in the corner of the room. On top of it was a set of organized tools, and metal pieces and wires all neatly gathered and twisted into a flat chip.

The sight, so orderly and proper, made me sick. It was a chip, not necessarily the same one that had failed to find my sister, but a chip nonetheless. The intense hatred in my heart would not go away until I did something to that stupid, boxy metal piece.

Before anyone could stop me, I snatched up the chip, crushing it in my fingers, ripping the beautifully set wires to shreds and the clips and buttons were tossed onto the floor and smashed under my boot. I threw the remains into the wall with a satisfying crack, the animal in my heart briefly satiated.

André let out a shout of disbelief and was too in shock to confront me. I fled the lab.

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

Robbie's POV

My face and shoulder were numb with pain and Trina's voice was echoing in my ears. I scrunched into a ball, protecting myself as she went on a violent rampage, throwing chairs across the room and yelling like an animal. Cat dashed to get the boys and they appeared just in time as Trina made her way over to a table, destroying the precious contents on top.

"NO!" André screamed, rushing over as Trina sprinted for the door and left in a blink. "Oh my god…_no_!" he repeated, his fingers gently picking up the broken pieces.

"What did she break?" Beck had the nerve to ask. That was when I first noticed how exposed he was. Where did all his clothes go?

"The transmitter!" André wailed hopelessly. "I mean, just the prototypes, but still. Oh, geez. I'll be able to re-build them from memory, no doubt, but…I don't have the pieces anymore. I need to order a whole new set."

"How long could that take?" I butted in.

"A week or two, minimum. These parts are definitely not easy to come by. God, I better go start checking where they're being stocked. I'm so sorry, Cat. You'll have to wait a little longer, I'm afraid." André gave the girl a tight hug, and she sniffled into his shoulder but seemed to understand.

"Dang. Why would Trina break that in the first place?" Beck had set the stack of torn cloth onto the floor and was approaching André.

Choked up, I answered him slowly and clearly, "We were trying to find Tori's location. André's computer says it can't be tracked."

"Say what?" André leaped over to the computer, adjusting the keyboard before doing a frantic search as I had done just minutes ago. The same window came up. "I don't understand…How can it _not _trace her location! The chip was injected into her arm. Even if it fell out somehow, it would still connect. The only way it wouldn't is if it was broken…"

"Even if she was…dead?" Beck added in a small voice.

"Yes, it would still work. It has its own battery."

I shuddered at the thought and the guilt that clawed at my heart. "Do you think we'll be able to find her, at some point though?" I asked.

"Possibly, but I don't know. We would have to go back to the island and search manually, assuming her body is still intact." André had arranged the damaged transmitter into a neat heap, beginning to separate the metal clips and buttons from the frayed wires.

_I shouldn't have brought us back, not this soon_, I thought bitterly, almost starting to cry on the spot. _Now we might never get to see her again_.

"I need to talk to Trina," I announced.

"Are you sure? There has to be some other way we can find Tori. Trina might just want some time alone right now," Beck suggested, but I ignored him. I didn't want any more of his stupid ideas. I brought us here because he had begged me to and I had felt bad. And someone had paid the price for it. As far as I was concerned, I needed to fix things and put them back the way they were as best as possible.

"No, I'm going. See you all later."

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

I jogged all the way over to Trina's apartment, even though I could've just dimensioned. I didn't really feel like dimensioning anywhere at the moment, and it would give me too much of a temptation.

The windows were curtained when I arrived, and I was practically shaking as I knocked loudly on the door. "Trina? It's Robbie. Please open up. I need to talk to you." There was silence. "I'm sorry. I really am. You can count on me to be doing everything I possibly to—"

The door wrenched open. "Why did you save Jade?" were the first words out of Trina's mouth. "Why did you take us back before we had time to get Tori?"

"I, uh…" Her serious gaze was making me forget everything. "Uhm, Jade was hurt and I just wanted to get her out of there before it was too late and she died."

"She technically still died so that's not much of an excuse," Trina snapped.

"But now André's helping her so she'll be okay," I said softly.

"Exactly. She will be fine. Do you know why that is, Robbie Shapiro?" Trina rambled on, not waiting for me to respond. "Because Jade is a Regenator. She can heal from any physical injury."

"Yes, I know," I replied.

"Okay. So why would you need to save her then?"

I clenched my jaw, not able to think of an answer fast enough. "Jade can't die, Robbie," Trina continued.

"You don't know that for sure," I countered quickly.

She rolled her eyes. "Go ahead and defend yourself. But whatever you say isn't going to change the fact that you chose her over us. My sister could be dead, Robbie. And she won't come back.

"I thought you cared about me, about us. When has _Jade _ever been more important?"

"It's not like that all," I retorted, upset at how she was manipulating the subject.

"I'm sure it's not," Trina stated calmly. "But that's exactly how it looked and exactly what happened. You can't change the past, Robbie." She leaned back, pulling the door so it was open only a foot wide. "I'm done with you. We're over."

"We weren't even officially together—"

"And never will be. Good-bye, Robbie Shapiro." The door was slammed in my face so fast I felt the whoosh as the air rushed by my ears. Turning around slowly, I was like a zombie as I returned to my apartment the normal way. No thoughts seemed to register in my mind as I trudged across the sidewalks and up the staircase.

My apartment was incredibly empty and lonely. I found my puppet, Rex, sitting on the couch where I had left him this morning. I changed my clothes into something cleaner and more comfortable and washed my face. When I was done, I picked up Rex and put him on my arm.

"Whatsa matter, Rob?" Rex asked me.

"Tori's gone," I told him.

"Let me guess: it was your fault too." He knew me so well.

"Not really, but I suppose it was. God, Rex, Tori might even be dead because I dimensioned us back before we could find her…"

"Why would you do that?"

"Jade was dying."

"Isn't Tori Trina's sister?" Rex said, and I nodded. "And aren't you two like, friends with benefits or something?"

My cheeks went red. "No. No we weren't. Not like that, at least."

"That's right. You've never gotten laid and probably never will." Rex laughed his maniacal, psychotic laugh. My shoulders drooped and I was beginning to feel even worse. "So you chose Jade over Trina, though? That's cold, man. Real frosty."

"I thought she was going to die."

"Regenator's don't die, Rob. When will you understand that?"

"I don't know! I just panicked, all right? What would you have done if you had to make that choice?" I was nearly screaming at Rex. But right after I was done speaking, he didn't answer. I sat there and waited, finally coming to the awkward realization.

_I _was Rex. Of course he would have made the same choice I did. I was literally talking to myself.

For some reason, just that thought caused me to burst into tears. I had no one but myself for company. And to me, being alone was worse than death.

* * *

**Yay! We got to see how Robbie and Trina are feeling about this...which is unfortunately not very good. **

**How exactly are Jade and Tori doing? Find out soon...**


	19. Wake Up

**This chapter may answer some people's questions, or it might not. Asdfjkl; I'm really sorry these are taking forever to write. School is eating me alive since it's the last quarter and I have sports practices everyday and games all the time. :| I literally just finished this so that was why no one got a preview. :( Sorry! You'll get one this time!**

**Thanks to: JessyRae, amal-rukia, bade, Guest, and CheesyDip15. :)**

* * *

CHAPTER 19  
Tori's POV

I opened my eyes painfully slow, staring up into more darkness. Throwing my right hand towards my forehead, I wiped my fingers across something sticky and dirt coated my palm. Breathing heavily, air whistling out of my nose, I forced myself to sit up. A sharp, agonizing pain burst in my left arm. I fell back, clenching my teeth, reaching over to touch it with my other hand.

It was like someone had a knife in my limb and was grinding it deep into the flesh. Whimpering softly, I bit my lip as I brushed my fingers over a large puncture wound with mutilated skin and hot blood drying around it. As my eyes became accustomed to the black, with what little light was filtering through the thick dirt ceiling, I suddenly remembered the events from earlier.

Jade was being mauled to death by an enormous brown bear and I was faced off with a gray wolf. The canine launched itself towards me without actually hurting me, only a distraction for the bear to come over and rip my arm open. I don't remember anything after that, assuming I had passed out, the pain being so searing and horrid.

I lifted my maimed appendage off the ground a few inches so I could get a better look. The sight was sickening, even in the poor lighting. There was a line that went straight down the middle of my forearm, from the inside of my elbow down to my wrist. The skin was literally split in half, with an extra four angry lines cut around the blood-crusted wound.

I felt a stab of pain, as if the image had reactivated the nerves. Tears involuntarily began to drip down my face as I started hyperventilating, just beginning to understand the terrible nature of the current situation. Even though I wasn't moving, it was already starting to hurt more. I wanted to take off my jacket and create a sort of makeshift tourniquet, but the left sleeve was stuck to my arm and I didn't have the nerve to peel it away.

My head was dizzy from the blood loss as I looked up at the dark ceiling. We had to be underground, I could tell from the tightly packed dirt walls and the scent of wet soil infiltrating my nostrils. The air was cool, though, almost comforting in a way.

Suddenly, the ground shook a little. I turned my head in each random direction to finally see a familiar shape sitting a few feet away. It got up and padded closer, shining curious yellow eyes at me. The wolf was back.

But this time, judging from its relaxed stance and swaying tail, I knew it wasn't going to hurt me, at least, I hoped not. The animal sat down next to me, stretching out a long leg and placing it gently on my good shoulder. Its short nails dug softly into my skin and it let out a small whine, nudging my face with its cold nose. I tensed and it sat back on its haunches, tongue lolling out of its mouth like a friendly dog.

It lips were pulled back into a creepy grin but had eyes shining brightly. The wolf barked, exposing its rows of dull yellow teeth. Standing up and shifting on its feet uneasily, it tilted its head back, letting out a howl that chilled my bones. Then it bounded forward and brushed its chin against my cheek, soft bristled fur rubbing my skin.

There was a new quake that traveled through the floor. The wolf jumped back, standing erect and facing whatever new creature had entered. I was already missing the comfort of the canine, even though I had no idea what its intentions were. All of a sudden, a shadow appeared over my head.

A massive bear, with rounded, twitching ears, breathed heavily on my face. I immediately associated the creature with my present pain, choking on my spit as I gurgled in fear. The bear shook its large cranium, backing away and turning towards my shredded arm, a growl rumbling in its chest.

My blood started boiling and my heart pounded fiercely. I had no idea what it was going to do, maybe hurt me more. The suspense hung in the air as the bear sat down, inches away from my paralyzed form. I couldn't take it anymore. I shut down.

Unconsciousness swept over my body. But before I had fallen into the deep sleep, I could've sworn I felt the rough edge of its tongue over my twitching fingers.

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

Jade's POV

_What is up with all the darkness_?

Death was just a never-ending space of obscurity that I was floating around in aimlessly. I would've thought I might meet up with the devil himself and have a nice conversation with him about how long he thinks it would take before I finally died for good…which would probably be in a few hundred years.

Being a Regenator certainly had its drawbacks. I've listened to the horror stories of calibers like me being lost and lonely for the 'rest of eternity' when all of their friends and family had passed on while they remained in their same youthful age. It was hard to live when you had nothing to live for.

When I had first entered this death state, I was really cold, probably from the extreme blood loss I experienced before. But now I was beginning to warm up, indicating that my body was gradually beginning to repair itself. That was a good thing. I was getting bored here, even though this was technically the first time I had actually died. I only fell into a coma when battling Archelaus, which was the closest I've ever gotten to death until now.

Without warning, I was struck with an incredible soreness in my body, all over, like I had slammed into a brick wall, which I have experienced on several unfortunate accounts. Air was pushed out of my lungs and my ribs burned when the bone melded back together. There was a pop in my skull as it re-formed into a normal-looking cranium again and my limbs twisted violently to fit back in their socket.

And I woke up, well, kind of.

The black was slowly disappearing and I could now see actual shapes and figures. André was kneeling above me, leaning over to drape something over my body before patting my head and leaving. I felt my temperature heating up again, my skin becoming itchy and sticky as it stretched to heal. I drifted out of this slight-consciousness for a while and then returned, this time to stay.

I was aware that I was lying on a towel, on the floor of a tiny storage closet. There was a fan in the corner, blowing full blast and circulating the air in the stale room. Another towel had been placed over me and I peeked under it, realizing that I was naked.

The pale flesh that had been brutally torn and shredded was now whole and clean again, save for the pink scars that were slowly fading. I sat up, rotating my arms and legs to find that they all still worked. There was still a dull pounding in my chest and stomach but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle.

Looking to my left, there was a neat, folded pile of clothes that smelled of Beck. I quickly slipped on the jacket and pants, rolling up the sleeves carefully. Turning the fan off, I located the door, my hand on the knob when the pain struck.

It was like getting stabbed in the chest with a thousand knives. My throat constricted and spit bubbled in my mouth as I collapsed to my knees, wrapping my arms around myself protectively and uselessly. Images flashed in my head, in black and red, of the bear attacking me again. It was actually really terrifying.

But just as soon as it came, it disappeared. I sat on the floor, huffing and puffing, wiping my forehead. I managed to gather myself again and reached out carefully for the doorknob, flinching when I thought another current of agony was going to come rushing into me. Nothing happened as I twisted and fumbled with the handle, stepping out of the cool room. I walked down the hall and into the main room, finding André hopping around a table in the corner and Cat was sitting in the middle of the floor, playing with something in her lap.

"Hey, Jade, how are you feeling?" André asked, not looking up. "That was pretty quick."

"Where's Beck?" I mumbled hoarsely, my mouth dry.

"I sent him out to get you some painkillers," he replied.

"Don't you have some here already?" I said, feeling the phantom burning sensation in my body again. André was prepared with more supplies than the average hospital had, because not every mission went the way we had planned.

"Of course. Do you need some right now?"

I shook my head, crossing the floor to stand by Cat, who hadn't acknowledged my presence yet. "W-Where's Tori?" I stuttered. André stopped fiddling with the objects on the table and turned to face me fully. "Is she with Trina?"

André shoved his hands into his pockets. "We left her."

"You _what_?" My voice dropped an octave and turned into a scratchy growl.

"Robbie couldn't find her in the pit when he went down to rescue you and didn't want to waste any more time there because you were dying," André attempted to explain, but I cut him off.

"I can heal. I'm fine, if you haven't noticed," I snapped. "Did Robbie not see the tunnel down there? There was one that connected to the pit; a wolf grabbed Tori and dragged her down there."

"Oh my, he didn't know that," André said, shrinking back as I stepped menacingly towards him.

"You're saying that Tori is still at that stupid island, alone? How come none of you went back?"

"We…lost connection with the chip. Her location is unknown."

I spun around, facing Cat. My head was throbbing with a frustration that threatened to choke me. The artificial redhead was very absorbed in her current task: fiddling around with a silver necklace. On a closer look, I recognized it as the dog tags Tori had given me, her fingers threaded through the chain and twisting the inscribed badges.

Cat held out the one that read 'Tori Vega' on it, muttering the one word I did not want to hear.

"Predicter."

Something in me snapped. "Shut up!" I screamed, reaching down and grabbing her shirt collar, pulling her to her feet and putting our faces centimeters apart. She squeaked, trying to pull away, uncomfortable at the close contact, but I held her tightly.

"I told you a thousand times that the girl isn't a dang Predicter! And you're not a very good one yourself if you didn't tell us that this was going to happen!" I had reduced her to a quivering pile of fear and tears.

André slammed into me and broke us apart, pushing me away from Cat. "Cool it, Jade," he said firmly. "It's not her fault." I stumbled for the door, still not in control of my actions. "Hey, wait—"

I ran out into the alley, crashing and bouncing off the walls before I managed to gain my balance. The embarrassment burned inside of me as I staggered away, flying past people staring at my disheveled state. I quickly found an abandoned parking lot in the back of a bar and I buckled to the asphalt, bringing my knees up to my chest. I considered going in to get a drink but I didn't have any money.

People were partying loudly inside and the sounds of their enjoyment and glasses shattering quieted the screams in my head. I couldn't believe what I had just done. I hurt Cat. I yelled at her and scared her. She was never going to want to talk to me anymore.

I ruined a lot of things.

Tori was probably dead because of me. The thought was too much to bear. She didn't deserve to die. It was all _my _fault, for not getting up and protecting her like I should have. But now it was too late.

_I'm sorry, kid_.

* * *

**So Jade's alive for sure and Tori is sort of hanging on still. Will the gang be able to rescue her or will she die before they can? **

**Cat knew Tori wasn't going to come back...but does she know if they can get her back? Find out...in Chapter 20! Coming soon.**


	20. Predicter

**...Well long time no see, everyone! Has it really been over a month since I last updated? Wow. I'm lame. Sorry. :( But this chapter is (I think) really good because...we finally learn why Cat kept saying 'Predicter!' Isn't that exciting?**

**Super special thanks to: JessyRae, bade, Azkadellio, amal-rukia, CheesyDip15, and especially to SkyeVenomatic for getting this story over 100 reviews. :D Yay!**

**Read on, my friends.**

* * *

CHAPTER 20  
Sikowitz's POV

"The animals have escaped."

I spun around in my chair, facing the two pale guards standing before my desk. "Excuse me? How on Earth did that happen? Wasn't that magical security system we have in place supposed to prevent something like this from happening?"

"We're trying to locate the cause of the break-out, sir," the beefier one replied.

I scratched the side of my face, where the coarse brown hair was beginning to wrap around my chin to form what would soon be a fantastic beard. "All right, well, I assume the evacuation procedures were performed and the island is now on lockdown?"

"Of course, sir. The subjects will not be able to escape."

"That's what you said about their cages and they still got out," I said crossly. The guards were silent. "And the last thing I heard about the experiments were that the drug was only increasing the animals' intelligence and giving them faulty powers." Reaching across the desk, I sifted through the large pile of documents. I came across the one I was looking for: the two pictures clipped on the inside of the cream-colored folder featured a giant, dark-furred guinea pig, one with a front view of the animal and the other will a full side view. The capybara was missing its entire back half, including legs and tail and its middle was open to expose the intestines inside. However, it was still standing upright on its remaining front legs and I could've sworn it was smiling, revealing its two front teeth.

"This animal was injected with the Invisibler drug, gentlemen," I explained, holding up the slightly disturbing images for the to look at. They grew even whiter. "As you know, this caliber power allows the user to control their body to making specific parts invisible.

"The Nicron that entered this capybara's system had not been concocted properly and did not give the animal the ability to have control over this power. So its back part decided to make itself invisible while its front remains seen, giving it the appearance of missing half its body."

"These drug experiments are failing. I've got the best IQers on this project. I'm sure there are a few other animals on that island who have powers that might pose a real threat to us if they are left to their own devices."

"What devices?" a guard asked suddenly.

"Never mind. You may both leave. I need some time to fix these plans." They scampered out of my office quickly. I turned to check my e-mail on the desktop computer. Someone from the labs had sent me a video file that he claimed was very urgent to watch. I opened it and focused my concentration on the HD recording.

At first there were two girls with their backs towards the camera walking together and talking but I had my volume low so I couldn't quite understand them. I think they were discussing the location of one pier on the island, when suddenly; the alarm from the laboratory blew out of my speakers in a deafening burst of static and feedback. The girls both ducked, covering their ears, before the taller, dark-haired one got up and started running, the other following a few yards behind.

The camera cut to a new view. The tall girl appeared in a flash across the screen before the smaller one came, stopping in a spot to catch her breath when suddenly, the ground beneath her gave away and she disappeared in a wild swirl of dirt and dust that flew up when the soil collapsed beneath her. As the cloud slowly started to fade, the tall girl retreated back, looking for her friend. She leaned over the edge of the pit and mouthed something, before her head popped up and she looked over her shoulder like something had spooked her. In less than a heartbeat, she had leaped into the hole. A few seconds later, the large head of a bear poked out from the corner of the screen. The bear waddled to the edge of the ditch, looking inside, before backing up and running forward, jumping over the edge. Then the video ended.

Using the track pad, I rewound the video to the part where the tall girl turned around to look behind her. Pausing it right as her face was in mid-spin, I zoomed in as close as possible without the image turning into a mess of pixels. Luckily, the camera had a great lens and I could see the girl's face clearly.

Which I recognized immediately.

My heart clenched, which was then followed by a stab of anger. I replied back to the message the admin had sent me.

_To: E. Sikowitz_

_Fr: Admin5413_

_Both females have been identified and are currently trying to be tracked. What should we do with them when their locations are found?_

_To: Admin 5413_

_Fr: E. Sikowitz_

_ Do not track locations. I know them both. They are no threat to us anymore. The bear should have killed them and if it didn't they aren't getting off the island anyway._

When the message was sent, I leaned back in my chair uneasily. I did feel a little bad. These were the women that got me my power back. But what else could I do? The bear had fallen into the pit with them and should've torn them to pieces. There was no use lingering in the past. Life moved forward, whether you wanted to or not.

And let's not forget.

I did warn them after all.

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

Jade's POV

I spent a _very _long time in the alley wallowing in self-pity. My body hurt, not because of the phantom pain from the bear's claws, but because I knew I had screwed up big time. There was no way I could go back and change anything. My mind wouldn't stop thinking about Tori… André…Cat…My throat tightened up, constricted with guilt and grief. As the minutes ticked by, I grew less miserable and more furious, especially at Cat.

Cat knew something bad was going to happen to Tori. Sure, she had gone through horrible things that limited her communication ability, but out of all the words in the world to choose from to speak, she chose 'Predicter.' How would that help anyone? We already knew which caliber type she was—why would she need to keep reminding us?

I explained to her countless times that Tori was not a Predicter. But the more I thought about it, the bigger the possibility seemed to exist that Tori may actually have had another caliber power. I've never heard of a person having more than one power. Well, I knew that she was always a little special…maybe just a little different from most others.

Or Cat had just gone nuts because of Archelaus. He stripped her of her childhood innocence. In high school, I remembered her as always being loopy, hyper and very carefree. Now she was stubborn, quiet, and shy. She was already having a tough time adjusting and now I screamed at her face and probably destroyed the little bit of self-confidence we had restored to her in the past few weeks.

Hanging my head in shame, I tried to think about something else but couldn't. The word 'Predicter' was floating around in my head, taunting me to find out what it really meant. I decided to take a more positive approach, instead of believing Cat was stupid and too scared at the time to think of a better word.

Maybe it was a secret code for something. Let's see…Cat constantly saying 'Predicter' and pointing to Tori when she did…then when we were preparing to leave for the mission, she went all pyscho and attacked Tori, telling us again 'Predicter'…and we returned without Tori.

Cat was a Predicter.

She was trying to warn us, because she had seen in the future that Tori wasn't going to come back. But why did she have to say 'Predicter?' Why couldn't she have said something like 'guard' or 'watch' or 'protect?'

Wait. What.

Protect.

Protector.

Predicter.

Protector.

Predicter.

—

Predicter.

Pretictor.

Protictor.

Protector.

Protecthor.

_Protect her_.

…

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

Sikowitz's POV

Rubbing my temples, I opened a new document and started to type out a newsletter I would send to the workers of the island. Just as I was finishing up with the last line, there was a knock on the door.

"You may not enter unless you have my coconut milk," I called.

A woman's head popped in. "Please, Sikowitz. This is important."

"So is my coconut milk." She sighed, retreating back and there was a full minute of silence before she barged in, pushing a cart with an assortment of coconut-flavored drinks.

"Happy?" she asked, handing me a glass and bottle.

"Very." I sipped the cold drink, nodding for to continue speaking of whatever she was here for.

"Shall we keep creating versions of the Nicron? I know we won't be able to test them for a while, but—"

"Nope. No more mixing chemicals. We'll take this opportunity as a break," I said, setting down the glass. "If it's possible, see if we can send in a group of scouts to go into the labs on the island and take out all of the dangerous materials left behind. We don't want the animals making some of their own inventions."

"What exactly do we do about the escaped animals?"

"Nothing. Yet. Maybe they'll all eat each other or something. We won't have to worry about reproduction, since all of them are of the male gender."

"Um, all right, sir," the woman said, turning around to leave. "Are you sure about everything, though?" She seemed to doubt I had the skills to run this organization smoothly. But I definitely knew what I was doing.

"Everything will be fine. Just do what I say and nothing worse can happen."

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

Jade's POV

I got up and _ran _all the way back to André's lab, smashing through the door and finding Beck and André standing next to each other and chatting quietly while Cat was gazing up at me from the floor with brightly shining eyes.

"Jade!" Beck cried, hurrying towards me. His arms went around my waist, lifting me off the floor and pressing my body against his very tightly. I rejected his affection at first, but found myself hugging him back, something that I could tell he was immensely pleased with. Finally setting me down on the ground and kissing my temple, his hand remained on my hips. "How are you feeling?"

"Excellent."

"Good. I went and got you some painkillers—"

"I don't need them." I waved him off.

"Are you sure? Because—"

Cutting him off again, I gently twisted out of his arms and went over to Cat, bending over so our foreheads were inches away from each other's. She smiled at me and I whispered, "I'm sorry, Cat." She leaped up and captured me in a very lovable hug. "I'm really, really sorry."

"Where's my hug?" André interrupted.

"What happened?" Beck asked, confused as to why I was apologizing.

"Nothing important," I said.

"Glad you came back, Jade," André said, opening his arms and hinting heavily that I should go over and hug him too, because he was looking very left out. I decided to pass the opportunity and cut to the chase.

"I had to come," I continued, "Because I figured out why Cat kept calling Tori a Predicter." The redhead clapped her hands gleefully, her lips spreading into a smile.

"Why?" the boys demanded to know.

"She wasn't calling Tori a Predicter. She was trying to tell us to _protect her_."

Cat let out a high-pitched garbled squeal of excitement, barreling into my side again and squeezing the breath out of my lungs. André and Beck gave a chorus of "Ooohhh…"s and there was suddenly a loud zap. Cat spasmed, pulling away, only holding onto my fingers now. Her back arched and she started falling, going limp and completely paralyzed, eyes glazed in fear.

We all sprang forward to catch her.

She was unconscious before she hit the floor.

* * *

**Boo yah. How many of you would have guessed Cat was saying 'Predicter' for that reason? :) **

**Fun fact: Originally, Predicters were going to be called 'Watchers' so then Cat would have been trying to say 'Watch her' to Tori instead of 'Protect her.' But then I changed it. And I think it sounds a lot cooler now. :)**

**So what happened to Cat at the end, there? }:) Hope to hear everyone's theories and thoughts of this chapter. ;)**


	21. One Last Chance

**Finally! A new chapter! How long have you all been waiting? :| School is over for me (ahh junior year here I come :P) so I've got a little more free time, although this summer is loaded with stuff for me to do. **

**PLEASE read the bottom author's note. It's really, really, IMPORTANT!**

**Shout-outs to: bade, Two-Ways-Down-None-To-Go, and Azkadellio.**

**P.S. I apologize for not giving anyone a preview of this chapter. Truth be told, I just finished writing this entire thing three minutes ago. :P**

* * *

CHAPTER 21  
Beck's POV

_"She wasn't calling Tori a Predicter. She was trying to tell us to _protect her_."_

Dang. My girlfriend was like a detective. Figuring out the mysteries and puzzles that not even André could. I wiped a fake tear from the corner of my eye, very impressed by her intelligence.

"How come I didn't see that before?" André grumbled.

"Well, you were busy with a million other things," I said, patting him on the shoulder. He shook his head, chuckling. We watched as Cat ran into Jade again, her face full of tears and happiness. Suddenly there was a loud zap, like a spark of electricity. Cat froze, her limbs kicking out before they clenched up and froze. She started to fall backwards, her body as rigid as a pole.

Jade was closest to her, throwing out a hand to wrap around the smaller girl's wrist, jerking her upwards before almost immediately letting go again, retracting back with a flash of pain on her face. Cat twisted in the air, remaining as helpless as before and I lunged, catching her waist and pulling her into my chest.

There was a burn when our skin made contact and I became paralyzed too. We collided with the ground and she rolled off of me, her skin white and body seized up.

"What's going on?" Jade yelled, leaned over and clutching her hand. I was unable to move or talk—it felt like a thousand electrical currents were roaming over my body and keeping me pinned to the floor.

"It's the chip!"

André spun on his heel, turning around and returning with a silver syringe in his left hand. I caught sight of him stabbing the needle deep into Cat's arm while pulling the plunger. She went slack, lying there limply like a worn ragdoll.

Jade made her way over to them as André prodded the redhead gently. "What did you do to her?"

"Put her to sleep," André informed her, sliding his arms under the unconscious girl and lifting her up. "The chip would've killed her if she stayed awake. She's obviously not great at controlling her emotions, which is understandable since you're the first person to figure out her little code. That's enough to make anyone extremely excited, but unfortunately that activates the chip. The happier she is, the longer it stays on and the stronger the electricity gets.

"If we want her to live until I can get that transmitter built, this will be our best option at this point."

I was forgotten on the floor, still in my silent struggle to get up. André set Cat down on a clean table and found a blanket to cover up her lower half with.

"So does this possibly mean that Tori's still alive?" Jade asked, lowering her voice.

"Maybe. You'll probably need to go back and check, though."

I made a loud, guttural noise in the back of my throat—that seemed to get their attention. Jade walked over and grasped my hand gingerly, pulling me and my legs failed to hold up my weight so I collapsed on her, mumbling incomprehensively.

"It's okay, Beck," she laughed, helping me with my balance. She started patting my hair and smoothing it down; the shock must've caused it to stand on end, giving me the impression of having a huge, unruly afro.

"So that's it then, we go back to the island?" I asked after a few minutes of re-gaining control of my vocal cords.

"It's our last hope," André nodded. "There's nothing wrong with trying."

Jade, who had her arm around my waist, suddenly tightened her grip. Her head tilted down to stare hard at the floor. I reached over, putting my finger under her chin and forcing her to make eye contact with me as André rambled on about a new plan.

I looked through her beautiful blue eyes like they were a direct entryway to her thoughts, to her mind: I was re-living the past through her. I felt her tight emotions when I innocently suggested we go to the island. Everything became tainted in red and white, blinding stars as she associated the island with the bear attack. I could practically feel the agony and pain she experienced, the hot, numbing ache traveling through my own body. I felt how she did when she died, too; confused, lonely and scared. Fearful. The suffocating, dizzying emotion she had rarely ever acquainted herself with. Jade didn't want to go back to the island. She was terrified that she might go through the same, torturous ordeal as before.

Jade jerked away, blinking. "Seen enough?" she snarled through her teeth.

"Jade," I began.

"I-I-I can't do it," she blurted out, pulling her arm from around my waist. "I'll just get Trina and Robbie. They'll be more of a help than I'll be." She stomped out of the room, us just standing there silently and watching.

"What did you do now?" André mused while rolling up Cat's sleeve to check her pulse.

"I read her mind." André clucked his tongue and I defended myself. "She would never tell anyone the things I just saw. Dude, Jade doesn't want to go to the island because she's scared that the bear is going to come back and finish her off."

"Scared? Well that's worrying." I had a feeling André was just playing around. "Jade's not really afraid of anything, is she? That bear must've really made an impression on her."

"It killed her," I said shortly.

André pursed his lips, tilting his head as he glanced up at me. "Right. Sorry, buddy."

I suddenly felt a stab in my chest. I looked at the door, expecting my legs to carry me towards it and outside, where I find my girlfriend and tell her everything would be okay. But instead, I stood there, looking like an idiot, even with my mouth hanging open.

"It's going to be difficult to find Tori if Jade doesn't go," André said. "She's the last person that saw her."

"If she doesn't want to go then she doesn't have to," I snapped.

"Beck, chill. I didn't mean it like that," André tried to calm me. "I was just making a statement." My hands pulled into fists and I had the sudden urge to hit something. "Anyway, if I recall correctly, Jade told me there was tunnel in the pit Robbie found them in. We can get him to dimension you back there and all you'll have to do is go down and search through it.

"I mean, it doesn't guarantee finding Tori, but it's a pretty good start."

"Yeah," I said simply.

"Beck, I'm not going to force Jade to come if she doesn't want to, you know that, right? Even if she would be a big help to the team," André added quietly.

"You better not."

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

Jade's POV

I felt so ashamed and embarrassed of myself as I made my way to Robbie's apartment. Beck had seen why I didn't want to visit the island for a second time. It was little better, I guess, than having to straight up tell him, but still. Jade West wasn't scared of anything. Until now.

I just hoped they would understand why. Getting mauled to death by a six-hundred-plus pound bear was not pleasant in any way, and you didn't even need to go through the experience to have an idea of what it would feel like. I now associated the island with lots of pain and having my guts ripped out of my stomach, as much as I didn't want to. Tori was still there, who knows what was happening or had happened to her, and I couldn't even bring myself to even _think_ about going back to save her.

I was quite a selfish, heartless jerk, wasn't I?

But it wasn't fair. I didn't choose to be like this. Things just happened and forced me to be this way. There was no option for me. I just had to accept it whether I liked it or not.

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

Convincing Robbie to visit André's lab was relatively easy. The Dimensioner's eyes were puffy and he had tear tracks staining his pale cheeks. He sniffled a few times while we carried out a civil conversation, but I made no attempt to ask him what had put him in this state. I bet it had something to do with Trina. He agreed almost immediately, wanting to make amends for his previous actions, which I didn't quite understand why he kept blaming himself for. He was as scared as I was, put into a moral dilemma of whom to save, knowing that either option had some sort of consequence.

Trina needed a little more convincing, though. She opened the door and greeted me with a large meat cleaver in her hand, thinking that I was Robbie. We ended up getting into a little scuffle when she refused to put down her weapon and she blamed me for allowing Tori to be taken away. I received a few well-placed bruises from her jabbing elbows but eventually managed to wrestle the knife away from her.

She slammed the door in my face after that, still not wanting anything to do with me. I decided that it was enough being nice Jade. I barged through the door and dragged her outside, screaming obscenities about how Tori _would _be better off dead and without her lousy, good-for-nothing sister. That riled Trina up enough to grudgingly head down to André's laboratory.

Mission accomplished.

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

Beck's POV

Robbie arrived first, naturally, in a large puff of green smoke. Trina came by almost twelve minutes later, her appearance disheveled: her hair was poking up and there was a small cut on her left cheek. Her bright, sequined shirt was missing a few bottom buttons and there was a tear in her pants.

Before I could ask what happened, she tried to physically assault Robbie, her hands wrapping around his skinny neck and choking him violently. It took André and a good ten minutes to have her restrained.

"Jade's not coming, is she?" Robbie asked in a wheezy voice. Him, Trina and I were standing in a line, arms linked. He was on the far right since Trina insisted on being nowhere near "that pig-headed scumbag" and I was in between them. André, like always, would remain here. We really needed to get him into the action sometime.

"Nope," I shook my head, eventually giving them what I believed was the real explanation: her fear of the bear was greater than her will to rescue Tori and she was too scared to go.

"Jade's not afraid of anything, though," Trina said as André bustled around us to make sure everything was in place. We would follow through with his plan of visiting the site where we had rescued Jade and make our way down to the pit and this tunnel Jade was talking about.

"What is this crap you've been spreading around, Beck?"

We all spun around. Jade was standing in the doorway, a regretful smirk on her lips and a determine gleam in her clear blue eyes. She walked up to Robbie's left side, grabbing his wrist hesitantly with two fingers.

"That bear better be ready for some _serious _revenge," she said.

I smiled at her and Robbie dimensioned us.

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

Tori's POV

I was very surprised that I wasn't dead yet. I had lost an unbelievable amount of bloody, which had gruesomely caked my entire left arm. At one point, something had come in and poured water all over it, washing away some of the red film, but that was about it. I could no longer feel my feet and legs. They had gone numb ages ago. Eventually the feeling traveled up my torso, slithering into my right arm and up my neck. I was forced to stare at the compact dirt ceiling with glazed eyes.

My left arm was only experiencing a dull, pounding ache. There was a patch of dried leaves stuck to the infected wound, supposedly protecting it from more harm that was placed there by a large, red-eyed gorilla. Either it was genuinely trying to save me or prolonging my agony.

I had no sense of time anymore. It would get darker in the tunnel during what I assumed was the nighttimes and bright during the day. Sometimes the gray wolf would visit, usually bringing fruit with it. I couldn't even remember how it tasted, except for the cold, sticky juice that dripped down my chin and cheeks as I struggled to swallow as much as possible. I was getting sicker and sicker the more time that passed.

The bear never came back, but I had a feeling it was just lurking in the shadows where I couldn't see. These animals were a lot more intelligent than they appeared to be.

I was beginning to lose the will to live. No one was coming to save me, huh? Jade might be dead and she was the only one who had an idea of where I was. I started having hallucinations, that the devil himself visited me and asked if I wanted to go with him. At first I refused, but now I wanted him to come back so I could say yes. I was hardly able to keep track of any of my surroundings. Everything turned into a jumbled puzzle of confusion and mystery. Why were these animals doing this? Would I ever be saved? Was Jade actually dead?

I didn't want to live anymore.

And at this rate, it wouldn't be long before my body gave out too.

* * *

**Okay, so I'm sorry about the progress being a little slow. And the updates are taking me horrifically long. But that'll change, right? :D**

**IMPORTANT NOTE: This story is coming up to a close. Like, in less than five chapters. I know I've lost some fans along the way, especially since _Victorious_ ended. But I'm willing to keep going if a few of you would too. **

**So my dear readers, I leave this question up for you: Would you like to see a sequel to _Predicter_? I've got the story line written down, and if you would like, I can bring it to life as the third story in the Caliber Series. I would really like to hear some feedback on that idea. Please. You can either leave me a review, PM, or vote on my profile for your answer. Or do all of the above. I encourage everyone who reads this to send in a response. **

**Thanks everyone! Have a nice summer. ;)**


	22. Protect Her

**Thanks to everyone who gave me some input on whether or not this story should have a sequel. ;) There is at least one more chapter in "Predicter" so you all have time to vote still.**

**Special shout-outs to: Guest, Sea-Green93, Two-Ways-Down-None-To-Go, CheesyDip15, Bade and Azkadellio for reviewing! :)**

**This was a fun chapter for me to write. I hope the character interactions and everything are okay-I have not watched the show since it ended. :|**

* * *

CHAPTER 22  
Jade's POV

When we arrived at the site, I had a horrible feeling in my gut. Not only because I was trying to contain my absolute fear that the bear might pop out of nowhere and maul me to death again, but also because the pit was gone.

"Are you sure you brought us to the right location?" Beck asked, fluffing his hair uneasily.

"Yeah!" Robbie defend, scratching his own head. "Where did the pit go?"

Trina was walking around us in a circle, stamping her feet soundly against the ground. I was half hoping that a dirt or leaf covering would break when she did this and she'd end up falling straight into the hole, but I had no such luck. The pit really seemed to have completely disappeared.

"It's definitely all solid ground," she reported unnecessarily as we all had been watching what she was doing.

"Then this can't be the same place we were earlier," Beck tried again.

"No, this is correct. I remember this giant tree trunk over here," I interrupted, joining Robbie's side. I pointed to the massive log fallen over on the hardly-noticeable dirt path.

"All right, so where's the pit?"

"It got covered up and/or filled in," I said.

"Then how are we supposed to find my baby sister now?" Trina moved over next to me, making direct contact. I was a little taller than her so having this stare-down was easy, although I found no joy in winning.

"Maybe there are more pits around here," Robbie suggested.

"Could be," I agreed, breaking my gaze from Trina. "When we first found the hole, Tori was just standing there and the ground beneath her broke apart and she fell right into it."

"I already walked around and checked," Trina said snottily. "There's no loose dirt anywhere here."

"Are you sure?" I challenged. She was really starting to get on my already hyped-up nerves. To prove my point, I began to jump around like an idiot, attempting to prove her wrong and that there really was a pit here but I ended up with the same results she had. Mumbling curses, I marched back over to everyone else.

"Did I not tell you—"

"GROOOAAAAHHHHH!"

I fell to the ground after I recognized the source of the sound. There a sting rumbling in my chest and stomach, my intestines already starting to twist up at the mere thought of…the bear. Beck and Robbie whirled around towards the noise as I lay there, curling up into a ball, taking deep breaths to calm myself. Trina backed up, kneeling next to me, eyes darting for any sign of movement.

"RROOAAARRRR!"

From the big tree trunk twenty feet away from us, the bear burst out, almost like the bark had been fake all along and was only acting as a door to cover up the tunnel inside it. The ground began shaking as it beckoned towards us, its mammoth-sized head shaking back and forth like a dog's and bearing its enormous teeth. My mind was flooded with flashback images, all of them drenched in blood red and blinding white. The phantom pain grew; I couldn't breathe or move.

"Jade! Jade get up!" Beck yelled as my eyes were squeezed shut tightly. I felt hands on my shoulder yank me up and drag me backwards.

"God, you're so heavy!" Trina complained. I became a deadweight in her grip. Maybe if I pretended to be dead the bear would leave me alone, right? "Jade! For God's sake, HELP ME OUT HERE!" My eyes snapped open. I saw the bear a little distance away, but not far enough for me to be comfortable. Beck and Robbie were standing in front of it, their arms raised protectively and Trina was trying to pull me farther away from them.

The bear lumbered forward, the brown fur on its broad shoulders rippling menacingly. The boys leaped backwards as it swung forward a heavy paw, missing Robbie by inches. They seemed to be holding an invisible line as the bear walked closer to them. However, if they were to engage in a fight, it's no doubt that they would lose.

"Robbie!" Beck said, his eyes never leaving the bear's, "You need to take Jade and get behind the bear and go down into that hole. I guarantee it leads somewhere underground. Maybe you can use it to find Tori! GAH!" The bear charged at him as Beck leaped away, his boots slipping on the ground.

"Why me?" Robbie whined, dodging another vicious swing.

"GRAAAHHH!" the bear roared, staggering back on its two thick hind legs, towering at almost ten feet tall now.

"Trina and I will stay up here and keep this guy occupied. So hurry it up, Rob!" The bear growled again as Robbie disappeared in a swirl of smoke, appearing by Trina's and my side. He took my wrist gently. Trina dropped me and hurried over to help Beck distract the bear. I was terrified for both of them.

"Get him away from the tree!" Robbie called, keeping his grip on me.

"We're working on it!" Trina screamed back.

Just then, the bear's eyes locked onto mine from its standing position. Giving a deafening roar, I knew that it was surprised to see that I was still alive. My heart sunk as it landed on all fours with a rumble that shook the ground and launched itself towards us.

"GO!"

Robbie dimensioned us ten feet from our original position, right in front of the tree trunk's opening. I looked down inside—it was pitch black and I could see no further than a slope of five feet. "Go Jade," Robbie encouraged, pushing me forward. Did he seriously want me to go first, when neither of us knew what was at the bottom? "Ladies first," he added sheepishly.

"HURRY UP YOU GUYS!" Trina screeched. She was now sitting in a low tree branch, her legs dangling inches away from the bear's claws that could tear right through bone. Beck was behind it, appearing to get ready to launch himself onto its back.

Before I could say wish them luck, Robbie pushed me very hard into the hole. I went in headfirst, locking my arms around my skull as I skidded down a steep slope. Rocks, twigs and gravel dug into my skin and ripped holes in my jeans. I heard the thuds and grunts behind me, assuming Robbie was coming down as well.

The ground became flat again as I skidded to stop, rubbing the cuts on my forehead and spitting out mouthfuls of earthy dirt. I propped myself up, wiping my arms and brushing off my shirt. There was practically no light down here. I could hardly see anything. Turning around, I saw the dim light coming from the top of the slope, which was nearly fifty feet away.

"I think I lost my glasses," Robbie mumbled.

"Doesn't matter; you can't see a dang thing under here anyway," I answered, slipping on a rock and falling into a compact wall. "Why did you push me down headfirst, anyway?" I said, struggling to find Robbie's form in the dimness.

He didn't answer my questions, instead saying, "I think I have a light with me." Robbie started rummaging through his pockets and there was the rattling sound as he found his ring of keys. He fiddled with them, trying to locate the flashlight keychain.

It was otherwise dead silent down here and I wondered how the others were doing. I could hear nothing from them and that was making me very antsy and nervous.

"Robbie," I whispered.

"Hold on," he assured calmly. "No, that's a key…oooh, another key…"

"Robbie." I repeated.

"That's Grandpa's good luck dream catcher…"

"Robbie!"

"Okay, that's the dinosaur keychain I got in the third grade; wow, I can't believe I still have that—"

"ROBBIE SHAPIRO!" I shouted.

"Aha!" A blinding blue light was shined in my face suddenly. "I found it—oh, yes, Jade?"

"Hurry it up, mop-head!" I snapped, snatching the light from his hands and using it to reveal a tunnel in front of us. It was lucky that he had brought this with us. The illumination was comforting, although it now gave everything an odd, bluish appearance. Oh well. It was the best we had to work with.

"My glasses are still on. Would you look at that!" Robbie started making some very unnecessary and almost stupid comments as we began walking down the first tunnel. I think he was only talking to fill in the awkward silence that would have otherwise resulted if he had remained quiet.

The dirt ceiling was low, only a few inches over Robbie's head. The scent of moss and wet soil filled my nostrils and I wrinkled my nose uncomfortably. The Dimensioner was trailing behind me so closely that he was almost always bumping into my arm. It was just as annoying as hearing him talk to himself nonstop, but I would put up with it for now, especially when we reached a point where the tunnel split off into two separate directions. We looked at each other awkwardly.

"You can take the light," I said, thrusting the device in his hands. "I'll go left and you go right. Go all the way down the tunnel. If it has a dead-end, go back and come my way. I'll do the same if mine ends that way too. And if the tunnel splits again, just wait there. If either of us find Tori, come back here and call the other person as loudly as you can. Got it?"

Robbie's eyes were wide even with the small light and I knew he was nervous.

"Are you going to be okay?" he asked quietly.

"Of course," I answered gruffly. "I mean, come on. I was fine last time, right?" I said sarcastically.

He gave an anxious chuckle.

"Just find Tori and we can get the heck out of here."

"Be careful, Jade."

"You too." I stood there and watched as Robbie went his direction with the light held carefully held in front of him. He was creeping at the pace of a snail. I waited as the blue light faded more and more before disappearing altogether, leaving me in a lonely darkness. Using my hands, I felt my way through the tunnel, discovering that it was becoming narrower and narrower the further I inched forward.

Suddenly, I entered a large room full of light—well, it had more than the previous passage did. It was spacey and circular, another tunnel entrance beginning on the opposite side, almost a hundred feet from where I was standing. The scent in here was different: it smelled like dog and as if something was beginning to rot. Wary of my surroundings, I started walking towards the other side when something on the ground caught my eye.

It was a lumpy object lying on the ground, curled into the fetal position. There were dark, dried bloodstains surrounding its left side. My heart was thumping furiously and once I was close enough, I could hardly believe my eyes.

"Kid! Tori!" I said, hurrying over and kneeling down.

Tori didn't respond, unmoving on the dirt. Her eyes were open but unblinking. The smell must have been coming from the wound on her arm, which was slightly covered with a padding of leaves for some reason. Her legs were tucked neatly beneath her body and her glossy brown hair, which she always tried to keep in the best condition possible, was now dull and frayed and full of dirt. Actually, a lot of her was covered in dirt. It was smeared on her clothes and face. Her lips were cracked and dry.

"Tori?" I repeated softly.

She finally blinked and made an odd panting noise, her tongue shooting out of her mouth and hanging to one side. I took that as a good sign. She wasn't dead yet. Thinking quickly, I took off my jacket and put it on the ground. Then I very carefully slid my arms under her back and lifted her up, holding her against my left shoulder and covering as much of her body as I could with the jacket.

"It's gonna be okay, kid," I comforted, patting her filthy hair as she groaned in response. "I'm not going to let you die." Adjusting her quickly, I got up and started to walk out of the room, wondering how in the world I was going to be able to see and not drop Tori. I opened my mouth to call out for Robbie when there was suddenly a growl from behind me. I froze, my knees going weak as I turned around.

The big gray wolf was sitting in the middle of the room, golden eyes glowing furiously as it bared its teeth and snarled at me.

_Crap_.

* * *

**So how did you all like this? Tori's been rescued and isn't dead (for now)!**

**If you haven't done so already, please review/PM/vote if you would like to see a sequel to "Predicter." The next chapter will be the last one, so it's important to get your vote in if you have yet to do it. :) **


	23. The Future

**Wow, longest chapter in the story right here. :) That's because it was supposed to be two, but I decided to just give you it all at once so we can move on to the sequel! :D**

**Shout-out to the wonderful person who beta-ed this chappie: Two-Ways-Down-None-To-Go :) and also the people who reviewed the second-to-last chapter: Sea-Green93, JoriHarmony, Two-Ways-Down-None-To-Go and Bade.**

**Thank you so much to everyone who has stuck with the story this entire time and given me the motivation to keep going. You're all such great people. **

**And now I present to you all. The final chapter of "Predicter."**

* * *

CHAPTER 23  
Jade's POV

"Shoo," I said simply, gathering up all of my courage.

The wolf's ears rotated like satellites picking up noise as they pointed backwards for a brief moment. Its top lip curled upwards and it leaped for me, growling loudly. I spun, my back facing it and holding Tori tightly against me. Right before its canines could rip into my ankle, I felt Tori stir and mutter something weakly.

"S-S-Stay…"

The wolf dropped down onto its haunches with a thud. I turned around, clinging to Tori, to find the animal tilting its head at us curiously, waiting for another order. "I'm…o-o-okay now-w," Tori whispered with a shiver, coughing blood onto my shirt. Her good arm looped around my neck and she tried to move closer into me. The wolf continued to sit there obediently, its busy tail sweeping back and forth across the floor.

I felt something wet on my shoulder. Tori was either drooling or crying on me now. I continued to stroke her hair as I backed away from the wolf when suddenly Robbie appeared at the other end of the room, wildly casting his blue light in the dim space. His worried face melted with relief when he saw me holding Tori.

"Oh man! You found her! Good job, Jade—is that a wolf?" He didn't even sound remotely frightened. The animal blinked its eyes at him as he walked carefully around it and towards me. Why the heck didn't he just dimension over?

"You are so _freaking _slow, Robbie," I huffed, fixing Tori's limp position on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry, it's just…wow, I can't believe—"

"Let's go!" I shouted.

"Right, right." He held my arm and we disappeared.

I fell on my back, Tori still tight in my grip. Robbie helped us up as I glanced around, my eyes catching sight of the bear, who was now either sleeping, passed out or dead on the ground. It was a bulky mass of brown fur, lying on its side. Trina was sitting cross-legged in front of it, her fingers pushed against her temples and eyes squeezed tightly shut. Beck, who was calmly patting the bear's head, saw us and hurried over.

"Don't open your eyes, Trina," Beck called out. He dropped his voice when he neared us, "She's hypnotized the bear into a sleep. Don't let her see Tori or she'll lose her concentration—"

It was too late as soon as Beck mentioned the word 'Tori.' Trina's eyes flew open and she looked around for her sister. The contact with the bear was broken and I saw it starting to stir, gaining its wits.

"TORI!" she yelled.

"Crap. Robbie, let's go!" Beck seized the Dimensioner's arm and mine. Trina was up and running towards us. Robbie snatched her wrist in his fingers and we spun on the spot, dimensioning just as the bear had reached where we were once standing.

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

_Three weeks later_

We took Tori straight to the hospital upon returning. The doctors told us that she was barely clinging on to life, the wound in her arm so infected from its lack of proper treatment that she nearly died.

They said it was a miracle she lived.

Tori spent an entire week going through intense surgeries and taking dozens of different medicines to improve her health. During that time, Trina treated the hospital like her second home. She and Robbie made up and were on better terms now, especially after she wanted to use him to bring her 'quality' food everyday from all over the world so she wouldn't have to eat the nasty stuff at the hospital.

Meanwhile, André had ordered all of the new and necessary parts to complete the transmitter for Cat. She was still kept unconscious (Beck and I moved her to stay at our own apartment) and we were all very eager to hear her say something other than 'Predicter' once it was finished.

After spending three full weeks at the hospital, Tori was well enough to come home, although she was still expected to check back every few days so the doctors and nurses could evaluate her arm's healing progress and give her medicine refills. A wicked scar was already starting to scab her skin and she wasn't even upset about it. She said it was really cool to finally have something to show for all the 'hard work' she put into being a 'superhero.' I was actually pretty jealous of it, as you know being a Regenator means it's very difficult, if not impossible, to have physical scars.

It was confirmed that the bear had indeed ripped out André's transmitter and the IQer suspected that was why it had hurt her there in the first place. Trina had another fit when André admitted this and it took Tori almost twenty minutes to calm her down and tell her that it wasn't all necessarily André's fault the bear attacked her.

We all decided to meet at André's lab, carrying along Cat so she could use her new transmitter. Tori had a thick cast on her arm but still managed to give me a big hug that nearly suffocated me. She also attempted to give me a thank-you gift, which turned out to be a small white stuffed teddy bear. Either she was not aware or chose to be ignorant on the fact that I could not stand the animal any longer, so when she turned around, I ripped the head off the toy and chucked it out of the room, shuddering and taking a deep breath.

André showed us what the transmitter looked like before he put it on Cat: it was a tiny, rectangular chip encased in a waterproof covering and hanging onto a thin beaded string that would be worn around her neck in order to get the best results and stop the device inside her own body from electrocuting her.

Beck placed Cat on a table and we gathered around her. André slipped the necklace over her head and injected a wake-up drug into her arm. After a few minutes, she started to come around, sitting up slowly and rubbing her large brown eyes sleepily.

"Good afternoon, Cat, how are you feeling?" André asked gently, patting her shoulder, motioning for the rest of us to back up a little. "I've finished creating your transmitter and it is now hanging around your neck as we speak. So whenever you're ready, you can say whatever you want."

Cat's lips trembled as she struggled to form words, obviously still a little scared that saying something other than 'Predicter' might hurt her. We all held our breath as the tension in the room built to an impossible height.

"P-P-Predicter…" she hissed.

_ Oh god_.

André went pale as Cat continued with, "Protect h-h-her…"

We all exhaled at once. A smile broke out on Beck's face and Robbie threw his hands up in celebration. André's eyes nearly bulged out of his head when he realized his invention was working. I could've sworn Tori was crying and Trina was simply nodding in satisfaction, giving André a thumbs-up.

"Y-Y-You rescued T-Tori, J-Jade," Cat said, stuttering slightly. She swung her legs over the edge of the table and came to stand in front of me and Tori. She engulfed us both in a hug that was enough to rival the one I had received earlier from Tori.

"Yeah, I did, huh, kiddo?" I chuckled. "Sorry I didn't understand your warning earlier."

Cat shook her head. "It's o-o-okay. A-After I said it a f-f-ew t-t-times, I didn't think a-a-any of y-y-you would u-un-understand it, especially when you all g-got fr-fru-frustrated with m-m-me…" Her words became choppier and choppier as she started to cry.

"It's okay, don't cry," Beck comforted. "It's not your fault at all. I guess we were just so surprised and thrilled that you weren't actually dead, we kind of overlooked everything else." Cat turned and buried her face in his side. She twirled a finger around a strand of blood-red hair.

"I-I guess I should e-ex-explain why I had to do-o-o that, huh?" she sniffed.

"Well take your time," I told her. "Everyone's safe, so there's no rush."

"Do you know what's going to happen to all the animals on the island, Cat?" Tori asked all of a sudden from her place on the floor. We sat down in a circle with her since it was more comfortable than standing.

"Why do you care so much about the animals that almost killed you?" I said, a little harshly.

"Excuse me," she replied, "They killed _you_. Not me. And in case you didn't know, I would've died, too, if some of them hadn't been kind enough to help me out."

"What are you even talking about?" This was new information for all of us, seeing as Tori had never spoken of the events that took place in the underground lair during the time that we were away.

"Some of the animals brought me food and water, okay? I wouldn't be here if it hadn't been for that."

"Really?" Robbie interrupted.

Tori nodded.

"Wow. Why are they so nice to you? Why did they try to rip out all of my guts and—"

"Jade." Beck stopped me. "Maybe if you all stop arguing, we can listen to what Cat has to say and maybe you'll get your answers then."

Cat nodded in agreement. "I can tell y-you everything. But first, w-w-wouldn't you like to k-know what's going to happen w-with S-Sikowitz?"

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTVUWXYZ

* * *

Sikowitz's POV

"Are you absolutely sure you want to do this, sir?"

"Yes," I answered for what seemed like the hundredth time.

"We've dedicated millions of dollars to this program, Mr. Sikowitz," the woman persisted, wringing her hands in front of her nervously. "Scrapping everything and throwing it in the trash would just be like tossing all that money into an incinerator!"

"I am aware and I apologize for the waste. There's no need to make me feel guiltier than I already am," I sighed. "I've seen the progress we've been making over the past month: none. Every version of the Nicron is a failure."

"Give it some time sir," the secretary continued to say. "We've got the best IQers in the world trying to create the perfect solution."

"Well, they obviously must _not_ be the best or this is either an impossible feat," I challenged, reaching over and picking up my glass of coconut milk. "It's just not going to work anymore. I suppose I should've listened to all those complaints I received…" My mind drifted to the one time specifically when Jade West came by with her friends and argued with me, saying that it was a bad idea. I guess she was right. She might even be dead, because I refused to send in a rescue party after watching her and that other girl on that tape…

"Mr. Sikowitz, you said that Agency is practically bankrupt now, correct?" the woman pestered, interrupting my thoughts. "Why should we pull the plug now, then? Like you told everyone when we first started the experiments, if we can find success, we'll sell the drug to all the human governments for outrageous prices so we can cover the costs we spent on the science needed to discover the process of the creation."

"Things change," I said cold-heartedly.

"But sir—"

"Enough. Please send a helicopter for me. I will take one last look at the island before I make my final decision, how does that sound?"

She nodded and squeaked out words of thanks, bowing and running out of my office.

But no matter what happened at the island, my decision was already made final.

Agency was seeing its end, all thanks to me.

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

The pilot of the helicopter took me quickly to the island. I didn't want to go with a Dimensioner since I just wanted to have an overview of the place. I instructed him to keep us in the air, not wanting to risk an unprovoked animal attack by the mutated creatures still running amok.

"This fence is strong enough and will be able to hold them in, right?" I tried to confirm with the pilot.

"Of course, sir," the pilot answered. "The readings that have been recorded on the island tell me that no animal has left or entered. It will remain that way unless you have them removed or they all die of natural causes, which I guess will eventually happen."

"No, that's all right. I'd like to just leave them here. We should've have messed with them in the first place. I'll leave them be for the remainder of their lives." I felt a little bit of sadness for the animal subjects who had no choice in what we did to them, but there was nothing else that could be done.

"Uhm, with that said, although no _animal _can get in, it doesn't stop humans from attempting to. Or, more so like calibers."

"Excuse me?"

"A few days ago we captured on camera a group of very daring calibers that wrestled with Timba and snuck into a secret underground tunnel through the trunk of a tree and rescued someone inside."

"Timba?"

"The grizzly bear."

"Right. How many people were there exactly?"

"Five, including the one that was rescued."

I knew who the people could've been immediately. I supposed the other remaining two were somewhere else. It was a great relief knowing that none of them died. But I still felt guilt in my heart.

"Okay. It's final. As soon as we get back, I'm sending out a notice and I'll go around and talk to some people. Agency can't be put to work anymore. There's no money left and I doubt we have any respect from the caliber population after what we've done."

The pilot showed no emotion. I was half expecting him to crash the helicopter and kill the both of us. Then Agency would continue to function as a government and possibly waste more money on the Nicron project.

As the helicopter was turning around and preparing to take us back to the main headquarters, I took a last look at one of the docks, noticing the new fencing reinforcements placed in at the end to keep things from entering and exiting. Right behind the chain-link was a large, shaggy figure sitting there. I squinted to see better. It was Timba the grizzly bear. What the heck was he doing?

Getting smaller and smaller as the copter flew farther away, I could just barely make out the animal lift its colossal right paw, waving it back and forth at us. Looking up at the cockpit, the pilot didn't seem to take notice of the exchange. When I turned back around, Timba was gone.

Returning to the HQ in Texas, I sent out a letter to every current worker and discreetly resigned from my position. At the age of ripe age of forty-four, I still had a lot of time left to go out and do whatever I wanted. Even though being an important leader was an experience that couldn't be compared with, I now had my peace and quiet and time for myself.

And so it became official.

Agency was no more.

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTVUWXYZ

* * *

Jade's POV

"So Sikowitz really is going to fire everyone, just because they listened to his orders?" Robbie asked Cat after she finished her story. Her voice was getting better and her speech was smooth.

Beck was sitting on my left and Tori was on my right, fiddling with the plaster on her cast. I was surprised she hadn't asked any of us to sign it yet. André was between Robbie and Trina, Cat to the right of Robbie.

"Well, that's how businesses work, right?" Beck commented.

"Yeah, but this is our _government._ You mean to say that in a few days, when Sikowitz releases all the notices and stuff and resigns, the calibers are going to have no form of government or order?" Robbie seemed extremely concerned about this fact.

"They haven't done anything great for us anyway," Trina pointed out snidely with a snicker. "Except waste millions of dollars and harm innocent animals."

"Like it's going to make a difference that they're gone," I added.

"Still," Robbie grumbled.

"When I was with Rebellion, many of the workers didn't want to do what Archelaus told him to, but they had to unless they wanted to get hurt," Cat said in a small voice.

"Well, that's because they're both a bunch of cowards," I replied.

"So how exactly did you escape from them, Cat?" André asked. "I think you're one of the _very _few people to do so."

"I'm lucky they didn't just kill me first," she said slowly. "After Archelaus captured Beck and I, he brainwashed Beck into becoming one of his slaves and put me in the dungeons. I think that's because he was scared of me; I was one of the only Predicters he ever managed to capture, since the majority of them were usually able to escape him because they saw him coming for them beforehand.

"But because I saw that in order for Archelaus to be stopped, we _had _to be captured, as Tori and Jade would come along later and bring him down for good. I knew of Rebellion's fate and Archelaus didn't want me spreading 'lies' and 'rumors' of his supposedly unstoppable organization meeting its match. So to keep me quiet, he locked me up and had a lot of experiments conducted on me to stay quiet. When they were all finished, I practically had no sense of communication."

"Except you could say 'Predicter,'" I pointed out.

Cat nodded. "I chose that word because I knew that I was going to escape at some point and if I managed to survive and make it all the way over here to you guys, I had to find some way to warn you about Tori." She looked guiltily at Tori, knowing that she her warning had been confusing and it was already too late by the time we understand its true meaning.

"I'm sorry for making it so vague. I had to pick a word that wouldn't make Archelaus or anyone at Rebellion too suspicious. I had metal discs implanted into my skull to keep people from reading my mind—"

"That explains a lot!" Beck interrupted. I briefly remembered the time when we first met Cat and he had insisted on going through her memories for answers. He made eye contact with her and then fell on the ground, claiming to have seen Archelaus laughing at him instead of Cat's own thoughts. The discs must keep Triggers from sending their telepathy waves through her skull and instead transmit an image of the feared Rebellion leader to those who tried to get into her head.

"—and I knew that saying 'Predicter' would be difficult for them to figure out. If I chose a word like 'protect' then they would know I was trying to warn someone about something and who knows what could've happened after that. The best part was that I was actually a Predicter, which made most people assume that I was just trying to identify myself."

"That's really clever of you, Cat," André commented. "I doubt I would've been able to come up with something as genius as that if I knew Archelaus was watching my every move."

Cat blushed upon receiving the praise. "I escaped the lab when a woman who was supposed to be checking on me suddenly gave me a gun and told me to run. I still don't know or remember who she was, but if it weren't for her, I wouldn't be here. This happened all the way back in California. I didn't know how I was going to find my way down here to Florida.

"I eventually had to spend almost two years trekking all the way across the continent. I hitchhiked a lot of the time and snuck onto buses and subways. When I finally got here, I had to make sure I was at the right place, so I broke into Beck and Jade's apartment and stole Jade's wallet, not just for the extra cash but for the ID to confirm that I was correct."

"You're really brave, Cat," Tori mumbled. She was leaning heavily on my arm now, her medications kicking in and making her very sleepy.

Cat smiled. "Not as brave as you, or Jade. You guys faced off with Timba the grizzly bear and lived to tell the tale."

"That thing has a name?" I couldn't hide my disgust.

"He's not as bad as you think, Jade," Cat said calmly.

"Then why did he kill me and hurt Tori?"

Cat was shaking her head. "Timba thought that _you _were going to hurt Tori, because you were both arguing with each other for a little bit while he was watching and saw you as a threat towards her."

My mouth gaped. _What the actual heck…_?

"So he attacked you, Jade, because he believed it would save Tori. Then the chip in your stomach started to go haywire when your body was injured, which was why he aimed for that area a lot. Oh, yeah, and that's also why he slashed Tori's arm, because he could sense the chip in there. He thought it was similar to the ones that Sikowitz required to be injected into all the animal subjects and wanted to take it out to protect her."

"Aw, that's kind of sweet, in a very, very weird way," Tori murmured.

"No it's not," I snapped. "That stupid, good-for-nothing bear nearly killed me over a—"

"I'm sorry!" André blurted out.

Before I could turn my anger on the IQer, Tori patted my leg and leaned towards André.

"No hard feelings," she slurred. "We're both alive and in one piece, remember?"

I rolled my eyes and huffed.

"Ah, well that was all very informational and somewhat touching," Trina drawled suddenly, standing up. "Thank you for clearing up everything. So what do we do now? We saved the world once again and of course, get absolutely nothing in return for it. We really need to start charging fees, you guys."

"Thanks, Cat," Beck said, as we all began getting up and stretching out our legs. I didn't realize how long we had actually been sitting there. "As for what we can do next, let's see: we have a really excellent team of calibers, right? A Kinecter, IQer, Predicter, Regenator, Dimensioner, Trigger, Hypnoser…"

"The perfect team of superheroes," André laughed.

"You're not for real?" Trina deadpanned.

Tori, who had her good arm hooked in mine and was struggling to stay balanced from her sleepiness, suddenly snapped out of her trance. "Oh my gosh, can we get matching costumes?" she asked excitedly. I put my hand on her shoulder to steady her as she wobbled around. "Like, can we have a black stripe that goes down the sides of the pants and utility belts with—"

"We need to come up with a cool group name!" Robbie interjected. "What about C-Men, short for Caliber Men?"

"Gross, Robbie!" Cat giggled as I busted out laughing, understanding the dirtiness of the unintended joke.

"André, do you want to build us a super awesome vehicle we can travel in?" Beck asked, looking like a little kid with the sparkle in his eyes.

"My god, you're all too much, I swear," Trina scoffed, acting like it was a burden to be the mature adult of the group. But I could see that she was just as excited as everyone else was.

I looked around at my friends, who were all grinning ear to ear and chatting together over what our next plan was going to be. I felt a warm bubbling in my stomach, which grew the longer I glanced at their eager faces.

Tori was rescued, Cat was back, and I was alive. André never ceased to amaze me with his amazing intelligence and talents. My relationship with Beck was growing strong again and my tolerance for Robbie and Trina were getting better.

I couldn't remember the last time I felt this happy.

* * *

THE END.

* * *

**Fun fact: The story was originally supposed to be finished in February but due to extreme complications with school/sports/etc., that did not happen. :}**

**So yay, ended on quite a happy note, yes? :) I tried to add in some jokes and make it light for a change. Hahah.**

**But what about Agency ending? Is it even possible for the calibers not to have an established government? Wait and see, shall we? ;)**

**If anyone has any questions, comments, concerns, on the story (or its predecessor) please don't hesitate to contact me through review or PM.**

**Have a great day everyone! ;)**

***The sequel is now out (you can find it on my profile) as of June 27, 2013. It is titled "Regenator."**


End file.
